


Caught in a Blizzard

by lojzek91



Category: RWBY
Genre: Friendship, Love Triangles, Sibling Rivalry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-13 16:12:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 87,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4528590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lojzek91/pseuds/lojzek91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Co-written by JackThePegasus from fanfiction.net. Vytal Festival is coming up and team RWBY has some problems that don't necessarily involve the festival, but are caused by it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Team RWBY was seated in a circle in their room, three of them bowing their head in sorrow at the scene. Ruby was of course being her usual hyperactive self and chose that day for team bonding exercises. She was chirping happily and the three other girls had to listen to her ramble on and on and on. As good as that idea was, it wasn't clear to them, especially Weiss, why this commotion had to take place so early. Sure, it was day outside already, but the "exercises" started at  _four in the morning!_  Weiss was completely out of it by now. Angry, tired, sleepy, but most of all, Weiss was wishing for all to pass so she could have some more sleep.

Not like she would get any that day. It was a school day and they had to get ready for classes soon. Ruby's chirping stopped and the room went silent. Weiss didn't know what was happening, so she snapped out of her thoughts, only to notice everybody staring at her.

"What?", she asked, slightly annoyed.

"I asked you how long have you been training with rapiers," Ruby replied in a sad tone, "but I guess you weren't listening."

The way she looked at Weiss almost broke her heart. Seeing that always cheerful face sporting a frown was weirdly upsetting Weiss lately. She got all soft when she saw that face.

"I'm so sorry, Ruby. It's just that I'm so tired," she said, stretching her arms and slightly arching her back while doing so, "that my brain isn't functioning properly."

The frown almost disappeared from the younger girl's face. Weiss knew Ruby was trying really hard to be the best leader she could be. The two of them even connected on a partner level. Weiss gave her tips and all that. They even became very friendly to each other. Or rather, Weiss did. Ruby was friendly towards Weiss anyway, even when Weiss was pushing her away.

"To answer your question, since I was five."

That seemed to cheer the petite brunette. "Well, it's almost time for classes. We'd better get ready."

With that, she energetically exited the room to get ready, leaving the sleepy trio alone. Blake threw her head back while supporting herself with her hands, Yang did nothing but let loose a deep breath.

"Where does she get all that energy?", Weiss asked, not even surprised after the time she got to spend with the energetic leader. Blake shrugged.

"It could be all that sugar she intakes during the day," Yang offered.

"Was she always like this?"

"Yup," Yang nodded.

"And you never bothered to find out how come she's so hyperactive?"

"Nope. We just got used to it. You'll get used to it too."

Weiss huffed. "Hmph. Well, I guess she was right about one thing: we need to get ready for classes."

With that, she stood up and went to make herself ready too.

* * *

Professor Oobleck was talking about some stupid, boring, long forgotten war again. Weiss couldn't really concentrate, no matter how much she tried. She needed sleep. She started drifting off, but Ruby nudged her gently. Weiss wanted to give the younger girl an angry look, but it came out like puppy eyes. Ruby was startled for a moment at the look Weiss was giving her.

"Weiss, are you okay?"

"No, you dunce. I'm not okay. I didn't sleep well. And you waking me up at four in the morning didn't help matters," Weiss whispered in an annoyed tone.

"Well, I'm sorry. But I couldn't do that exercise now, during classes. And how come you're the only one this tired?"

"What do you mean, the only one?"

Ruby pointed her finger at Blake and Yang, vigorously writing down Oobleck's blabbering or at least looking the part.  _Great, I don't even have that excuse anymore._

"I'll explain when this is all over, Ruby."

"When what is over?"

"The lectures for the day."

Ruby was seemingly content with letting it go for the time being, but that didn't take the concerned look from her face. She focused on the lecture again and Weiss watched her look all serious while writing down stuff.

Weiss started thinking of Ruby in a different way since they got close. Not just like a partner, but as a friend. A very good friend. One she could trust, tell her secrets to. One that could always be counted on. One that cared. Weiss was thankful, even if the duo got off on the wrong foot. They didn't always agree, but they understood each other so much more lately. And Weiss had to admit, Ruby could get pretty adorable when she got her mind to it. However hard it was to deal with her, she never failed to make Weiss or anyone around her smile.

Then she started thinking about her problem. Ruby would probably get sick with worry if she knew exactly what it was that bothered the heiress. It was true that she couldn't sleep. The reason for that was that Vytal Festival was approaching soon. That meant her family would come to visit and see how Weiss was handling herself at Beacon. That was more stressful than the battles she'd fight there.

To say that Weiss's family was hard to live with would be an understatement. The eternal strive to be absolutely nothing short of perfect, nothing but the best and most skilled at anything. That meant hard training and lots of it. Weiss was called an heiress, though that didn't mean she got a free pass on anything. Since she was five, she was trained in fencing, maths, economics, pretty much everything and anything her parents came up with. So when they gave her the option of going to Beacon, she grabbed the chance with both hands and didn't let go. She couldn't wait to get away from them, to be at least a little freer than she used to be at home.

The lecture ended and semi luckily for Weiss, it was the last one for the day. Semi luckily because now she'd have to make good on her promise to Ruby and tell her what's bothering her.

Or rather, the whole team. It turned out that Ruby wanted to talk to the whole team about the very thing that was bothering Weiss, though not knowingly, of course.

"Okay, team RWBY! We all know that Vytal festival is coming up soon. Let's talk about it!"

Yang shared her sister's enthusiasm, Blake looked through the window absentmindedly and Weiss looked at the floor.

"What do you want to talk about?", Weiss asked.

"Well, anything, really. Like, do you have a particular tactic in mind for your fights, if your family will come watch you, stuff like that."

Weiss cringed a little at the word  _family_. She sighed.

"Well, I don't really have any particular tactic in mind. I was going to adapt to the fighting style of my opponent. It's what I usually do, anyway. Rapiers aren't really an amazing offensive weapon, not even ones with Dust cylinders," Weiss said, not really thinking, but everything she said, she meant it.

Yang crushed her fists together. "I'm gonna go all out and punch the everloving snot out of anyone that tries to get in my way! That's the good thing about Dust powered gauntlets, they are lightweight and accurate!"

Blake was more conservative in her approach. "I always start a fight on the defensive. Look for openings in people's defences. Strike quickly when I notice one."

Of course, Ruby was even more unconventional than her sister. "I'll slash at each and every one of them and jump around them and move really quickly and… Kyaaa! Haiya!" She started making slashing moves while screaming loudly. That took a better part of a minute. "And then I'll propel myself into the air with my Crescent Rose and then I'll…"

Ruby couldn't finish her sentence as Weiss held her hand over her mouth. "We get it, Ruby."

The excitable girl calmed down, breathing quickly for a while before continuing. She brushed her hair with her hand while doing so. "Sorry, Weiss. anyway, what about family? Dad's going to come watch me and Yang and he'll be so proud of us, won't he, Yang?"

The blonde brawler looked at her sister with a cheeky grin. "Maybe of me, but not of scruffy little you, sis."

"Hey! I got into this school even if I'm two years younger than you! If anything, he'll be much more proud of me than you!"

The two sisters jumped at each other and engaged in a mock fight. Weiss rolled her eyes in annoyance at the sisters' antics.

She got used to such outbreaks. That still didn't mean she liked it. The sisters would engage in such fights all the time, yet in the end none of them would be hurt, for some odd reason. Neither held back any punches, Weiss could see that clearly, yet neither had as much as a bruise on their bodies, at least not visible ones.

Yet Weiss decided not to but in. It gave her more time to think about her problems. Blake didn't look too eager to talk about who was coming to watch her.  _Wait, would anyone actually come to watch her? Didn't she say she doesn't have a family?_

Weiss occupied her mind with Blake and her problems while the two sisters kept going at each other mercilessly and most of all, loudly. The brunette and the white haired girl watched the two sisters brawl like the worst of enemies, yelling loudly and smashing into each other's body parts like they were ragdolls. From time to time, the two girls watching would share a concerned look, as if contemplating if they should break the girls apart before they hurt each other.

However dreadful it was for Weiss to look, it was also mesmerizing in a sense. The sisters moved in perfect synchronicity, taking and giving punches like two heavyweight boxers, if those boxers would be lying on top of each other while fighting. Ruby and Yang definitely shared a bond that was not likely to ever be broken.

After about ten minutes, Weiss had enough. "Will you two dolts stop that already!", she yelled at the top of her lungs. The brawling sisters stopped in their tracks, Ruby with her two hands crossed above her head and Yang with her right hand prepared to strike those two hands, and looked at Weiss with a hint of fear, unsure of her next move. She was rather unpredictable when she was angry, and there was definitely anger in her voice and looks.

"How can you two always fight over something stupid and for so long?"

"Umm…", Ruby started. Yang continued for her.

"That's how we grew up?"

"By fighting for half an hour at a time?"

"How do you think we got so good at blocking each other's blows, Ice Queen?"

Weiss narrowed her eyes at the nickname. She wanted to retort, but she had to admit Yang had a point. The sisters could never get to know each other as well as they did if they didn't fight each other all the time. She just took a deep breath and then inhaled in frustration.

"Can we just get over what we started so I can go to sleep?"

Ruby wrought herself free from under Yang and stood up. "Right. So, our father is coming to see us. How about you two?"

Ruby sent a hopeful look to the other two girls. Blake sighed before speaking with crossed hands.

"Well, I guess nobody will come watch me. As you know, I have no family. Nor friends."

Ruby's smile sank as she heard those words. She did what she always did in situations like this, though. She quickly went over the room to Blake and pulled her in a tight hug, as if that would help in any way.  _Though hugs do feel nice,_  Weiss thought to herself. She had actually never been hugged before coming to Beacon and into this hyperactive girl's team. At first, the hugs made her uncomfortable, but lately she grew more and more fond of them. She had even started a hug a week earlier for the first time.

The hug seemed to cheer up Blake, even if only a little, as she gave a reassuring smile to Ruby when the petite ball of energy let go.

"So, that's three out of four… How about your family, Weiss?"

Weiss looked at the floor, thinking what to say. In the end, she decided that the truth would probably be for the best.

"I… Don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Of course Ruby wouldn't understand. She always had a loving family that supported her, unlike Weiss, who was just a pawn in the Schnee family business. Things might have been different for her if she had been born a male. Male heirs always had less problems than female ones. Though for some reason, Weiss didn't believe life would be any different for her if she was a male.

"I mean I don't know, Ruby. I know this might be hard for you to understand, but I don't think I'm very important to my family beyond being an heiress."

"How is that even possible, Weiss? They are your parents, your family, of course they love you." Weiss almost scoffed at the mere suggestion.

"Ah, Ruby, if you only knew how my life was like up to Beacon. There was barely a day I didn't feel like merely a number. I barely ever felt accepted as a human being by my parents, heck, I'm even sure my sister hates me even more than my parents."

"Why would your sister hate you? Yang doesn't hate me, right, Yang?"

The blonde nodded firmly and hugged Ruby to accentuate the gesture.

"Ruby, it's different with you and Yang. I'm sorry to say this, but one of you isn't an heiress to a multi-million lien Dust company. Being next in line for that kind of thing makes you distant from other people. Turns you into a walking robot."

Weiss stopped talking at that point. Ruby and Yang approached her carefully while Blake was watching from a safe distance, not willing to step into the cesspool of danger that Weiss represented at that point. It was not sadness on her face, Blake noted, it was full on wrath.

Ruby extended an arm and put a hand on white haired girl's shoulder. That was a mistake. But Weiss didn't explode yet.  _Ruby, just don't say anything, please,_  Blake thought to herself, hoping that the younger girl would realize the gravity of the situation before it was too late.

That of course didn't happen.

"Weiss, I'm here for you."

"Dust damn it, Ruby! Like that helps! I had no childhood because I was groomed to be an heiress since before I could walk! I never had a family to support me! Nothing I ever did was good enough! Seventeen years, Ruby! Seventeen years I was alone in this world while surrounded by a myriad of people I didn't even know the names of! I had no friends! I didn't go to normal school like you because I was homeschooled! I had to know the intricacies of the economic systems of Atlas, Vale and Mistral by the time I was ten! And just as if that wasn't enough, I have a sister that probably wishes me dead! I don't know if she does because I haven't really spoken to her in almost a year!"

Ruby jumped away at the first yell and looked at Weiss with scared eyes. She didn't know what to make of what she was seeing. Weiss had been angry in the past, but not like this. Blake and Yang just watched with concern from a safe distance, Yang moving out of the danger zone when the floodgates opened.

"All I want is a family that would support me!"

With those words, Weiss wanted to run out of the room. She opened the door and smashed into a person standing in front of it. She then picked herself up, not even paying attention to the victim of her attack and started running again.

Ruby, Blake and Yang looked at the newcomers and realized they were team JNPR. Nora was, unsurprisingly, the first to regain the power of speech.

"So… What was  _that?_ "

Ruby spoke. "Umm, you know, I have to go find her. Calm her down. You four can stay here, if you want. See you!"

With those words, Ruby bolted after the distraught heiress. Team JNPR entered the room cautiously.

"No need for caution, only Ice Queen got upset," Yang encouraged.

"What was that all about?", Nora inquired again.

"You know, family issues. Right now, I think the only person that can calm her down ran after her, so no need to worry. Come in, make yourself comfortable."

When the visiting team sat down on the floor and Yang was sure nothing else needed to be done, she decided to start a conversation.

"So, what brings you four here?"

Pyrrha spoke up. "We were actually planning on talking with you about the Festival."

"Oddly enough, that's also the reason our little Ice Queen got her jimmies rustled," Yang said with a smile.

The sextet then delved into discussion about the Vytal Festival, tactics and pretty much anything else they could think of, nearly forgetting about the earlier mishap.

* * *

Ruby was running around the Beacon Academy campus, looking for her teammate, her partner, her friend. She owed that much to her as her leader. And being her friend meant she had to do anything in her power to make her feel better. All the while she was searching for the runaway girl, she was also thinking of words to say, or any way of tackling a problem like that, really. Having a loving family was an obvious thing for Ruby and she forgot that not all people have supporting families behind them.  _What do you say to a person that was never loved in her life?_ Thinking for a while, she figured she'd just offer a sincere hug and take it from there.

But first, she had to find the runaway girl. She ran all over the campus and didn't notice her small figure anywhere. Lastly, she decided to check its hidden corners. That was when she finally found the person she was looking for, leaning on the campus wall, far from any light.

Ruby decided that the best approach would be the slow and silent one. She didn't want Weiss to run away again. She wanted to comfort her. As she was closing in on Weiss, she heard her sobbing quietly. In a moment of carelessness, Ruby stepped on a twig which snapped under her feet loudly enough for Weiss to raise her head.

"Who is it?", the heiress asked through a sob. Ruby revealed herself.

"It's me. I was worried about you." Ruby continued getting closer, watching Weiss carefully to catch any reaction. The closer she got, the wider her arms were spread. Finally she got right to Weiss, who reluctantly pressed herself into the younger girl. Ruby then slowly put her hands around Weiss's back and gently squeezed her small body closer to her own. The white haired girl started sobbing louder and Ruby didn't say anything, she just let Weiss let it all out, occasionally pressing her a little tighter in her embrace.

It took Weiss a better part of five minutes to fully calm down. When she did, Ruby gently let go of her and their eyes met.

"T-Thank you, Ruby."

"Hey, I'm not your friend for nothing, am I?"

Weiss managed a chuckle. "If only my sister was like you, Ruby, I'd be the happiest girl in the world."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over her. I'm sure she doesn't want you dead."

"You don't know her, Ruby. You'll see what she's like for yourself when… If she comes."

"I'm sure it'll all turn out fine in the end. And if not, you have three other sisters now. And countless friends."

Weiss looked up at Ruby. "Y-You consider me a sister?"

"You're my friend. You're my partner. I can't consider you a sister like Yang, but yes, you are like a sister to me. And even if nobody else likes you, me, Blake and Yang do. We like you very much. Then there's also team JNPR… You really don't need to feel alone, Weiss. I promise."

Weiss continued looking at her leader's face.  _She always knows what to say. She's still a dunce, and a very irresponsible one at that, but I'll be damned if she doesn't always have the right words._

Weiss swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Ruby, right now I am so thankful for those words I cannot even begin to explain." She threw her hands around Ruby's waist as if to say with a hug what she couldn't put in words and the younger girl was happy to return the action.

When they parted, Weiss was sporting a small smile that was no match to Ruby's wide one.

"Come on, Weiss. Let's go back to our room. Maybe JNPR is still there."

Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Wait, I stumbled on somebody when I stormed out, didn't I?"

Ruby nodded with a smile. "Yup, Jaune didn't even know what hit him. And you picked yourself up and ran away so quickly he couldn't even comprehend what happened for a moment."

Weiss huffed. "Hmph, that's the closest he'll ever get to feeling my body against his."

Ruby couldn't hold back her laugh. "That's the Weiss Schnee I know."

Weiss blushed a little, but quickly regained her composure. "Besides, how stupid can he get? I'm obviously not interested in him and Pyrrha has been dropping hints on him for almost two semesters and he still doesn't get it. Though he must be so dense that the hint should be a brick. Even then he probably wouldn't know what hit him."

Ruby continued giggling like a madman all the way to the dorm while Weiss went on rambling about Jaune's obliviousness and how obvious it was to everyone but him. Before long, the heiress was actually sporting a real smile on her face and Ruby couldn't be more relieved.

They reached the RWBY door and saw team JNPR was still there. Weiss got ready for questioning.

"Hey, Ice Queen," Yang said cheerfully. "You okay now?"

Weiss nodded with a smile. "Thanks to Ruby."

Yang decided not to ask further questions. Jaune, of course, couldn't get the hint.

"What did she do?"

 _Oh, for…_ Weiss was about to explode again, Ruby could see that, so she decided to intervene.

"Uhh, you know, the usual. What were you guys talking about?"

"Pretty much just the Festival and stuff like that," Yang answered. Pyrrha then stood up.

"Well, it's been great talking to you, but it's getting quite late and we have some more classes tomorrow. I think we should go now, what do you say, team?"

Nora and Ren nodded enthusiastically, but Jaune seemed lost in his own world. Pyrrha lifted him up and pretty much shoved him through the door before saying goodbye to team RWBY.

The four girls were left alone and Weiss was preparing for harsher questioning, but was pleasantly surprised when Yang, who usually asked the most questions, went to take a shower. Blake went soon after, leaving Ruby and Weiss alone again.

"Ruby, thank you."

"You already said that, Weiss. Don't worry, I did what I had to do. I want to be a good leader, but most of all, I want to be a good friend."

Ruby then quickly changed into her sleeping outfit and Weiss couldn't help but look at her petite leader changing.  _I have to admit, she's very good looking. She definitely doesn't look fifteen. Her breasts are also bigger than mine. I'm a little jealous, I admit. Though if you look at Yang, it's understandable._

Without really thinking, she waited for Ruby to go past her and smacked her butt playfully. Ruby turned around, slightly shocked at the unexpected contact. Weiss noticed a small blush creeping up Ruby's face. Weiss looked Ruby dead in the eye and revealed a devilish smile before winking at her leader. Ruby looked at the floor, eyes wide with embarrassment, and quickly clambered on top of her bed.

"Good night, Weiss."

Weiss smiled at the gentle tone of Ruby's voice. "Good night, Ruby."


	2. Chapter 2

Beacon Academy had a lot of funding from the kingdom itself. Training excellent hunters in order to fight off the Grimm was a priority in any kingdom of Remnant, and so combat schools normally got more funding than other such establishments, but Beacon received even more funding than other schools because the world-class status it held. Of course, there were several things about the school that you could infer to tell you this without thinking.

The huge, cloud-piercing towers which touched the heavens looked as astonishing as they were expensive. The many buildings of the main site all held different, high quality facilities. Huge, well kept green gardens were scattered throughout and students loved nothing more than to roam around before collapsing into a lovely nap underneath a tree in one of these many spaces. A certain faunus on team RWBY could often be found with a book in her lap in any of these gardens on a wonderful summer's day.

Beacon was also home to top quality sparring arenas and training rooms, where the many hunters and huntresses in training could hone and refine their skills with professional equipment. Of course, some students chose not to train in the facilities provided to them and instead would choose any old field that they saw fit within the grounds of Beacon to hold their friendly matches and conduct their training. Some people preferred feeling the soft grass underfoot support their quick movements and the soft breezes cool their hard working bodies.

While the actual training rooms were very well equipped, and provided perhaps the safest and best learning environment possible, and even though they were air conditioned, students would still choose to spar with one-another outside for just the aforementioned benefits of nature. The outside also provided for a larger workspace overall, no walls to hit and infinite blue sky above them to accommodate the hunters and huntresses who took a more vertical approach to combat. This environment was also friendlier for larger audiences of people who were not afraid to risk a cut or scrape from stray attacks, and so teams could often be found training outside all together.

Whether you were looking to take up a book and waste away the afternoon reading, or you were actively sharpening your skills as a skilled warrior to fight the creatures of darkness, the grounds of Beacon offered plenty for all the students to enjoy.

On this afternoon, the clashing of metal and the ringing of gunfire could be heard as two students fought ferociously as one needed to let off steam and the other had to sate their partner's appetite. Said students happened to be members of team RWBY, and more specifically made up the BY of the team name. One was a swift and shadow-ly warrior, who was just about to enjoy an afternoon of reading before taking a literal catnap. That was before she was interrupted by her partner, a fierce and fiery blonde brawler who had a lot of pent up steam that needed to be let loose in a proper spar.

This was why Blake and Yang were currently taking advantage of their warm and breezy afternoon by interrupting the serene quiet with the screeches of metal and the whistling of buckshot.

A quick scan of her surroundings told Blake that there were several trees which she could take advantage of, Gambol Shroud remained in her hand, and that Yang was indeed barreling towards her again with the crashes and booms one would expect of thunder. Leaping up and kicking off of the tree at her back, Blake got a headstart as Yang flew straight past her with a weighty right hook, missing her target completely. Swiveling to face her opponent, Blake launched with a series of swift strikes with Gambol Shroud's wickedly sharp sheath blade. The offensive was met with little success however, and soon Yang was quickly deflecting her strikes and quickly following with crushing punches, left right and center.

Intent on not making the fight any harder than it needed to be, Blake backflipped out of the range of her partner in a lavish yet practical style, and beckoned the brawler away from the tree that they were once fighting up against. Her partner complied with little hesitation, eager to land a proper blow on the girl. Charging forward once again, the trading of blows began once again. Blake swiped left into Yang's abdomen, who deflected the slash with her left gauntlet and followed up with a quick jab with the right gauntlet. Blake clearly knew her partner well, and realised that she could easily take advantage of the fact she had two arms which could defend and attack simultaneously.

 _Time to even the odds then,_ Blake thought. Feinting to the left, Yang took the bait but was quickly struck with a hard kick as her opponent's hands occupied themselves with unsheathing the thin blade of Gambol Shroud and its pistol handle, and then grasping with equally lethal sheath in the other, effectively allowing blade the use of two blades. This negated Yang's main advantage, and so she was forced to resort to her classic tactic of 'Overwhelm the enemy with buckshot blows until they fall'.

Every attempt that was now made at Blake was met with no result now, however, and she was quickly regaining her footing and building up her momentum against the blonde. As if the flurry of blows, nearly invisible with the speed they were delivered, weren't enough trouble, the faunus then began using her semblance of shadow clones.

"No fair!", Yang shouted as she now kept her head on a constant 360 degrees lookout for any vulnerable spots that the girl clad in black would decide to take advantage of. She was  _definitely_ on the defensive now - students were not accepted into Beacon for no reason, each and every one was a  _very_ good fighter.

Blake merely laughed as she dashed past the blonde with deft strikes that she was simply too slow to avoid or even block. She found herself punching a few shadow clones by mistake, too, and those false copies of Blake would prove costly to mistake for the real woman, as she would then make her appearance and deliver a terrifying blow to any opening at any time.

 _Though,_ Yang thought,  _surely this means she must be using Aura. She can't keep up these clones forever._

As if reading her mind, Blake was evidently beginning to use her semblance much more conservatively now, using it only to avoid any cheeky strikes that Yang would try to return to the girl. She needed a plan, and she needed one  _fast_ , or she wouldn't last much longer.

And that's when she smirked, right in the middle of a fierce strike to her abdomen.

And that's when Blake, not paying attention to the aura levels on their arm-mounted scrolls, realised her fateful mistake, and her eyes widened in worry.

The air all around the two girls literally exploded into flames and knocked Blake onto her back and into a roll to recover it. Looking up, from her current crouching position, Blake saw that Yang's eyes were now a deep red, her hair was glowing, her face had a telling smirk on it, and Blake cursed herself.

_Her semblance. Her stupid semblance. The more hits she takes, the more powerful she gets. I've been pummeling her, and she's ready to let it all go -_

As if on cue, Blake's only saving grace was the quick reaction times she had acquired through years of practice as a shadow clone sent her flying out of harm's way, harm in this case taking the form of a ground-shattering punch courtesy of Yang, who was already bearing down on the faunus once again. One flying right hook, one ducking Blake, one swipe of Gambol Shroud and another crash of Ember Celica. A strike to Yang's head in an attempt to subdue her had allowed the blonde to catch the girl's unsuspecting arm.

Flaring her aura and creating a shadow clone - wait, what?

Blake's terrified eyes locked onto her scroll. Her aura was nearly at zero, now. There was no way she could use her semblance without harming herself, and now her only hope was that Yang would maybe loosen her grip on the girl's arm so she could break free and make some kind of recovery.

No such thing happened, of course.

The wild brawler pounded Blake with shattering punches from each and every angle as the iron grip on her arm allowed for full control over her new punching bag. Not too long after, their scrolls beeped in unison with a high-pitched warning tone. Blake's aura was empty, the bar completely gone. Yang wasn't faring an awful lot better, being well into the red zone as the hits she took earlier definitely reduced her aura by a considerable amount. Gently letting the girl in black go, who immediately collapsed from exhaustion, Yang herself toppled onto the soft grass which had just served as the arena for their epic duel.

Plenty of deep breaths and achy limbs were shared by the girls, who both congratulated each-other on such a good sparring match. It wasn't every day you fought with your partner, and had the resulting outcome be close and perhaps comparable to a draw. There wasn't much between the two, and Blake put that down to the mistake she made of trying to whittle her partner's aura down rather than trying for more crushing blows against the blonde with the incredible semblance. Perhaps it was the early rush of adrenaline which encouraged her on, being able to finally release her own stresses herself, or perhaps it was impatience, but it was still a fair and square victory for Yang. Besides, Blake's semblance was not an easy one to fight against, and for that, she had to commend Yang's effort in battle. They now found themselves staring at the deep blue sky above.

Watching the clouds after the spar was certainly relaxing, in Blake's opinion. The random shapes of the strange formations in the sky were perplexing, and always captured her wonder. You could make out any kind of shape from the clouds, and this was something Ruby enjoyed doing, she knew. Ruby was always quick to point out any misshapen clouds, and usually ones that resembled her scythe Crescent Rose. Her affection for that weapon was unlimited, Blake decided.

Yang was now breathing softly next to her, and finally propped herself up with her hands and turned to her partner.

"Good fight, Blakey, you're almost as good as me now!", she said, wearing a massive shit-eating grin. Blake rolled her eyes at the silly comment and brushed it off before sitting up herself.

"Oh yeah, and what was that middle part? Where I was totally beating you?"

Yang scoffed and shouted, "No! That was part of my plan! I totally planned to lure you into a false sense of security, and then BAM, use my semblance and sweep the carpet of victory from right under your feet!"

Blake giggled, knowing that this was not the case at all. "Mhm. Sure you did."

"I did!", Yang argued with extravagant gestures. "Any way you look at it, I won and you lost, so guess who gets to be the little spoon!"

Things between Yang and Blake were very… close. Obviously, they didn't quite share the same bond that she and her sister did, but as partners they were very good friends and comfortable around each-other. Hugging like spoons, or 'spooning' as Yang called it, was something that had actually started by accident and had become a thing when Yang confided in Blake with the story of her relentless search for her mother, and the two hugged. It now often happened when the two were simply relaxing, or trying to keep warm, or just felt bored really. It wasn't a romantic thing, of course, they were just really good friends.

This made Blake annoyed. She much preferred being the little spoon, as it was incredibly comfortable and made her feel fuzzy and warm. Being the big spoon was nice… but the little spoon was better. It wasn't as if Blake minded snuggling Yang, because the blonde certainly wasn't unattractive.

"Grr… Fine. That was the bet, and you won, so sure. Be the little spoon. Just know," Blake said with a dead monotone voice, "that I will not be losing to you again. Ever." The menacing look and the glare of seriousness was sort of ruined by the black hair that was plastered to her forehead with sweat. And the clothes that were plastered to her body with sweat. And the terrible smell the sweat produced. She needed to shower.

"Right, you keep telling yourself that," Yang giggled in her typical cheerful tone. She then turned her attention to picking at the grass, then picking at Blake's bow before having her hand batted away, and then was picking at her own clothes.

_So energetic and unsettled. Does Ruby get it from her?_

"Eugh!" Her face shrivelled up in disgust. "I'm all hot and sweaty! And I smell disgusting! Man, fighting is really fun when you're doing it, but it sucks afterwards, with all the sweat and stuff…"

Yang continued to complain about the warm weather which was making the two girls sweat after their intense spar, until a certain leader of team RWBY found them.

"Hey guys!"

Blake's head snapped towards the new voice, which in this case seemed to be Ruby bouncing along in her normal black and red combat skirt, with a quick wave and a short leap onto the ground near her teammates. She then said, "So what's going on with you two?"

"Well, we just finished our spar," Yang said, "and -"

"There you are! Dust, do you know how long we were looking for you two?"

Weiss had arrived, Blake knew that annoyed voice and demeanour couldn't belong to anyone else.

"Uh.."

"Yeah - uh, we were kind of looking for you for like half an hour. Man, you would have thought that two sparring huntresses-in-training would be easier to find, right? It was only half an hour though, Weiss."

"Half an hour too long…" the heiress grumbled.

"Well," Yang started again, "we just finished our spar and we're super sweaty and stinky, so we're going to need to go in the shower. Eugh, this is disgusting…"

Yang's rant about the abhorrent creation known as sweat was soon cut off by the sound of two very loud dust powered jet engines. Looking towards the sky, the four girls saw a Bullhead flying at considerable speeds over the Beacon site, but was beginning to slow down as it flew overhead, pulling the engines so they faced downwards and prepared to land. Weiss caught the mark on the side of the Bullhead; a big, white snowflake, emblem of the Schnee family.  _Oh dear,_ she thought,  _they're here already? This is not good._

"Woooow...", Ruby said, a little bit dreamily. She was staring at the Bullhead with a renewed fascination, and probably not because of the occupants. Weiss doubted the redhead even had sharp vision like she did, sharp enough to spot the snowflake symbol. This was proven true when Ruby suddenly jumped up and shouted, "You know what's so cool about Bullheads?! You can attach all different sorts of guns to them!"

"That's uh... That's great, Ruby," Blake said, trying not to sound disinterested like she was.

"You bet it is! Crescent Rose fires a shot caliber that's about twenty millimetres wide, and they can be fired about once every second if I'm quick on the bolt, but those cannons they attach to the bullheads can spin and fire two guns with three barrels each at one hundred rounds every  _second!_ That's like super-duper speed! And we haven't even mentioned the  _thirty millimetre armour piercing dust rounds_ yet…"

Ruby babbled off in a daydream about all the different kinds of heavy aircraft weaponry used by military forces around Remnant, while the rest of their team were more focused on the actual Bullhead itself. It seemed that while Ruby missed the snowflake emblem, a certain keen-eyed partner of Yang's didn't.

"I saw the snowflake," Blake said, turning to Weiss, "and I guess it's safe to assume that the bullhead which just flew over belonged to your family?"

Weiss stood a little straighter and spoke in a more careful and calculated voice, saying "Yes. The Schnee family owns a small fleet of Bullheads for personal transport - about four of them, in fact. One of them has machine guns on it in cas-"

"What kind Weiss?!", Ruby barged into the conversation, "what kind of machine guns are they? Were they the thirty millimetre cannons? Were they the long range high-explosive forty millimetre cannons, or… OH MY GOSH WEISS, DID IT HAVE A ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE MILLIMETRE ARTILLERY-ow!"

Yang began to drag off her little sister by her cloak. "Come on you little weapons nerd," she said, "We need to get back to our dorms and make ourselves look decent."

After being let go, and putting her hood back down, Ruby looked up and asked Yang "Why? It's the weekend, nobody will care about how we look."

Yang rolled her eyes before asking "Ruby. Did you catch  _any_ part of that conversation, that didn't involve Bullheads or their ridiculous guns?"

Ruby seemed to stop for a minute and find it odd that Weiss and Blake would be talking about Bullheads. It didn't take her long to piece together the fact that they were probably talking about something else, and that certain something else was- "Weiss' family has arrived, and we don't want to look like a bunch of scruffs, right?"

"Ooh."

She then jumped up onto a nearby rock, stood with her arms at her waist and shouted, "All right team RWBY, it's time for operation Ice Queen's Visitors!"

"Hey!"

"We need to go and clean everything up,  _including ourselves,_ " Yang and Blake received a look of disgust from Ruby, "and meet Weiss' family and introduce ourselves, and all that good stuff!"

"Yeah. Right," Weiss said, "could you perhaps be just a little bit less excitable for once? That'd really help, Ruby. Not that I don't like it… I just don't think my family would."

Ruby assured herself that she definitely did NOT just blush at Weiss' words like they meant anything more than friendship. Nope, not at all. They'd never find her secret. She most definitely did not look at Weiss differently than before the last few days.

"Well, come on, chop chop Blake, we don't have any more time to waste," said Weiss in the same calculated tone. Blake had a guess that she was probably practising her more refined tone in order to impress her family, or something like that. She wasn't sure, but Weiss was walking off to the dorm in a fashion that was very much posh, even for her. If this was Weiss raising the bar for herself, then it obviously meant that her family were even more uptight and condescending, perhaps, than she was (or at that point, used to be). This thought alone, coupled with Blake's past, made for an unsettling feeling in her stomach.

* * *

It wasn't long before all four members of team RWBY have returned to their dorm, Ruby and Yang slightly ahead of the Monochrome duo. This meant that Yang was in the shower first, and as per her normal routine, would take literally  _forever_ washing her hair and drying it after. She was the reason that all the girls got up before her, as she took by far the longest in the bathroom, and to get caught behind her was a death sentence. This left Blake to bask in her own sweat, gained from the hard work she went through, sparring with Yang. Weiss, after brushing her own hair into her classic off-centre pony tail, then set about tidying up Ruby's own messy mop.

"No."

Weiss groaned. "Don't be such a child, Ruby. You can't have hair like that if my family is visiting."

"I said no! I like my hair the way it is, and there's no way you're making me do  _anything_ to it!"

Blake was rather enjoying this silly spectacle of the two partners arguing. Ruby didn't really pay much attention to how she looked, as she didn't care for much beyond killing Grimm with her Crescent Rose, and eating cookies. This led to the young girl having quite easily the messiest hair on the team, and an adorable bedhead which she vehemently denied even existed. Not minding that, Blake set about tidying up the room, like the others should have started earlier, but evidently didn't get round to doing.

Picking up a box she found on the floor, containing a  _certain_ erotic novel about ninjas, she quickly put it under her bed and made sure to hide it well behind the boring old fairy tale books she also owned that she was sure nobody else would pick up. She then set her sights on the messy desks, covered in papers, and listened in on the two girl's conversation - only a little bit, she swore - to provide herself some entertainment whilst performing the menial tasks.

With a sneaky grin, missed by Blake, Weiss said "Well. If you allow me to brush your hair and tidy it up so it doesn't look like a complete mess, then maybe I'll consider allowing you to snuggle with me and a cup of hot chocolate tonight." Blake could  _hear_ the smirk from where she was stood.

"A - er..." Any retort that Ruby had instantly died in her throat, and instead was reincarnated as a series of confused squeaks and an adorable deep red blush. _Dust, Ruby, pull yourself together! It doesn't mean anything!_

Even if she expected a reaction similar to this, Weiss felt a small blush creeping up her face too. She just couldn't deny it: Ruby was a grade A adorable dolt.  _Snuggle. Yeah. That'll be nice. Just a trust building exercise with my adorable partner._ She began to consider how far you could go whilst still being able to call it 'snuggling'. With Yang around, probably not very far.

Weiss started softly brushing Ruby's hair and thought about her feelings for Ruby. She was sure it was more than friendship, but being from an aristocratic family, she never really had any friends with which to share the friendship and therefore didn't exactly know how it felt. There was also something else to their friendship, however unlikely it seemed at first. They were partners and had to learn working in unison.  _Also,_  Weiss kept thinking,  _why did I smack her backside that day? Sure, she looked adorable to me, and I knew I had to do it for some strange reason. And her reaction made me feel all fuzzy inside. I don't think it was just partnership. Is… Is this how it feels like? Falling for someone?_

She must have stopped brushing Ruby's hair in the middle of her thoughts, because Ruby was looking at her from the side with curiosity in her eyes.

"Um, Weiss? Why'd you stop? Is something wrong?"

Weiss then realized she was simply staring at the younger girl's hair with dreamy eyes. As she noticed her partner's silver gaze, she snapped out of it.

"Uhh, I was just… Thinking about whether I should let you snuggle with me tonight," Weiss said, which wasn't a  _complete_ lie, it was somewhat relevant.

"Weiss! You said I'd be allowed to snuggle with you if I let you do my hair!"

"I distinctly remember something else too. Unless you only want to snuggle?"

Ruby thought back.  _What was it she said? Something about something sweet. Cookies? Cream? Chocolate?_

"Umm…" Ruby was trying to remember, but nothing of importance seemed to be registering with her. "I… I mean, snuggle is nice. We used to do that with Yang a lot when we were younger. B-But I also want that other thing, what was it…" Ruby went through her mind again. "Hot chocolate!"

"Ruby…" Weiss said with a faint blush. "You remember. You listen to me." Weiss was genuinely heartwarmed that the girl had listened to her and remembered the little details she said.

"Of course I do!" There was a hint of hurt in Ruby's voice. "I'm supposed to listen to you, am I not? You're my partner and I have to listen to you."

"Uhh… I guess you're right. Well, let me finish your hair."

Ruby nodded and turned back around to let Weiss do her business. When she was done, Weiss went to Ruby's side and cupped her face in one hand, turning it towards her.

"I'll let you have hot chocolate."

Ruby waited for her to continue for a moment, but when Weiss remained silent, she let out a small whimper. "W-What about s-snuggling?"

_Oh my gosh. She whimpered. I don't think I've ever seen her do something as cute as that._

Weiss' mouth widened into a smile before she gently flicked Ruby's forehead with her index finger. "You dolt. Sure, you can snuggle with me tonight."

Ruby had a huge grin on her face as Blake looked away from the couple, smiling slightly to herself.  _They do make a cute couple, if I'm honest,_ Blake thought to herself while finishing the polishing of her Gambol Shroud.  _Now if only Yang would come out of the shower soon…_

Just as if on cue, Yang busted into the room, wearing her trademark grin. "All right, Blakey, you can go in now. Hope I didn't make you wait for too long." Blake swore she could still see drops of water on the blonde's badly rinsed skin, making her top slightly stick on her body and in turn making Blake just a little uncomfortable.

Blake gave a short nod, picked up some of her clothes and left the room.  _Should I tell her about her sister? Probably not, one of them should do it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is chapter two! The fight scene (and pretty much this whole chapter) written by the incredible JackThePegasus! If you haven't checked him out, do, you won't regret it. He is only on fanfiction.net though.
> 
> Comments are welcome! See you next time, when we'll meet the Schnees!


	3. Chapter 3

By the time Blake got back from her shower, everyone in team RWBY was dressed in clothing appropriate for meeting the Schnees. Almost like a complete opposite of Yang, Blake was ready in just a couple minutes, which pleased Weiss, as she didn't have any more time to spare. She had to meet her family, and the sooner that was over, the better. She turned to her teammates.

"Team, I think it'd be better if you wait here while I meet my family."

Ruby was the first to object. "Wait, Weiss. Why did I have to get all dolled up and stuff? You said it's for meeting your family, yet now you say we can't meet them."

"If you'd let me finish, I'd explain," Weiss said, sending a glare Ruby's way. "I was thinking it might be better if you wait here and when I'm done, you'd come meet them. I just want to make sure they don't get any weird ideas just by seeing you."

"Hold it right there, Ice Queen," Yang joined in, looking a little offended. "Are you ashamed of us?"

Weiss opened her mouth as if wanting to say something, but she didn't find the right words.  _Am I ashamed? No. I'm not. They may be impulsive, especially Yang and Ruby, but I'm not ashamed of them in the slightest. They are my first real friends, my teammates._

Weiss let out a breath. "You're right, Yang. I'm not ashamed of you. What my family thinks of you is the least of my concerns."

She walked to the door, but was stopped by a gentle voice. "Does that mean we can go with you?" The voice of course belonged to Ruby, who was probably more interested in the Bullhead than the Schnee family anyway. Who even cared about the guns on those things? Weiss couldn't help but let out a smile.

"Yes, you dolt, that means you can come with me. Just stay back and be silent before I introduce you."

Ruby squealed and waved her hands around in excitement, which made Weiss roll her eyes in mild annoyance. Yang was sporting a wide grin as usual, whereas Blake seemed less than enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. In that moment, Weiss realized what made Blake uneasy.

"Um, Blake…"

"Don't worry about me. Just don't… Tell them."

Weiss gave her a short nod before opening the room door, motioning the team to follow her.

* * *

The quartet made it to the landing platform where the Schnee Bullhead was. Weiss noticed there were only two people that weren't servants and Beacon workers.  _Great. Father couldn't bother coming again._  Even if she half expected it, she was hurt by this.  _Only mother and Winter. This will be fun,_  she thought to herself sarcastically.

She turned to her teammates. "You wait here. When the… Pleasantries are done, I'll bring them here. Ruby, that means you too. You are  _not_  allowed near that Bullhead, understood?"

While it pained Weiss to see Ruby's hopes shatter, it had to be done. She couldn't allow the weapon enthusiast and a barely sane person near the expensive aircraft. She didn't dare to think what might happen. With that out of the way, she started approaching the duo in front of the Bullhead, occasionally looking back with a stern glare to make sure Ruby was put. She was relieved when she noticed Blake holding Ruby's shoulders so her legs wouldn't take her away on her own.

"Good day, Mother," she purred when she got close enough the two newcomers could hear her without shouting, "Winter."

"Those three back there are your teammates?", her mother inquired.  _Dust. Who needs to say good day, right?_

With a lump in her throat, Weiss managed a quick "Yes." A second later she regained her composure and gave the details. "The girl in red is Ruby, the one in black is Blake and the one in yellow is Yang. Ruby is my partner, and we form team RWBY."

"Very nice, very nice," her mother waved her off and made it apparent that she didn't give a damn.  _As expected._ "They look scruffy."  _There we go._ "They look like they couldn't fight _a_  baby Ursa if all three jumped on it. You lead a team like that?"

 _Oh, damn. I knew she wouldn't like them, but I forgot they don't know I'm not the leader._  Weiss tried to remain calm as her mother kept on pouring oil in the fire.

"Seriously, Weiss, I didn't think Beacon stooped so low as to let those three in. And I didn't think you would get paired with such scruffy looking wannabe huntresses. Well, at least they have a capable leader. Or did you go soft too? You don't look like you did when you left."

Weiss sighed.  _This isn't going according to plan._  "They are surprisingly capable huntresses-in-training, Mother. I assure you. Especially Ruby. She's actually two years younger, you know?"

Mother scoffed and looked away. Winter got the gift of speech back, though, not like Weiss was too keen on it.

"Two years younger? She's still a child! I bet she acts just like one."  _Says a girl who's just one year older than her,_  Weiss glared at her sister.

* * *

The three members of team RWBY that were left behind were all in different states of mind. Ruby was busy checking out the Bullhead from afar, not giving much thought to the Schnee family reunion. Yang was busy watching Ruby so that she didn't do anything stupid, and Blake was holding Ruby's shoulders while thinking about her past involvement with the Schnees. She carefully watched the two new members, making note of their every movement to assert their thoughts.

Her mother was a woman in her forties, quite leanly built for a woman that age. She was a pure aristocrat, it was seen from afar. Her white hair was tied in a perfect bun and her clothing was nothing less than immaculate. A snow white aristocrat jacket with a light blue emblem of the Schnee family and pants in the same shade as the emblem on the jacket. To add to the posh and over-the-top style, she was wearing thigh-high white boots. In the sun, she was actually a little hard to look at as all the white and light blue reflected the light into Blake's sensitive eyes.

The little girl looked quite different from her mother, especially younger. Just like Weiss, this girl had very long white hair, even longer than Weiss, to be frank. The main difference in their hair was the way the two girls wore it. Whereas Weiss only had one ponytail to her side, this girl, who Blake decided must be her sister Winter, had a ponytail to either side of her head. Her attire was that of a princess, though. It was a one piece dress, white of course, with blue accents all over it. The skirt of the dress was wide and ballerina length. Since it was pretty cold, she wore a white overcoat with Schnee snowflakes embroidered all over it. All she needed was a crown and she'd look like she was a queen of some sort.  _Well, she is, in a way, a princess._ Blake also noticed a small detail that made her muse: namely, that Winter's breasts were larger than Weiss'.  _That certainly must not bide well with Weiss, given how self-conscious she is._

Weiss looked like she was slowly losing her patience with her mother and sister. It was clear in the way she stood; she was standing stiffer and her hands were gently balling into fists. Blake knew the signs, they were teammates, and Weiss always reverted into classic Schnee mode when she was angry. Quite frankly, she thought it was a little bit scary.

There was something else Blake noticed, and it didn't involve any of the Schnees.

No, Ruby was trembling a little bit. Looking down, it was almost as if the girl was shivering. It  _was_ rather cold, but Ruby had a thick corset and warm cloak on. If Blake had most of her stomach exposed, then how on Remnant was Ruby cold? She never usually got cold. Her knees seemed to be wobbling a little bit… but after a bit of thought and the addition of a crazy ideas, Blake thought she knew what was causing this.

Ruby was no longer looking intently at the Bullhead ahead of them. She must have gotten bored after realising that the model that the Schnees arrived in had no weapons mounted on them, and so had nothing to fawn over like she usually did. Instead, Ruby's attention was now turned towards the Schnees themselves. Her gaze had quickly passed over the mother who was partially blocked by Weiss, and hadn't really had a reason to continue looking at her, but when she looked just to the left of Weiss, her sister was in full view, with her over-the-top twin ponytails and everything.

And that's when Ruby began trembling ever so slightly, having seen her younger sister.

And that's when Blake realised that Ruby might have gotten the hots for Weiss' sister.

 _What a situation you've gotten yourself into now, Ruby,_ thought Blake. The display of affection that the two had earlier certainly wasn't missed by the girl in black, and she knew it wouldn't be long before either girl declared their like-liking of the other, but her sister would make things a lot more complicated. If Blake knew Ruby well enough, the young girl would just try to bottle it all in and cover it over, but if her legs trembled and her breath hitched every time she was around the young literal princess, then it'd be an awful lot harder to keep such a secret.

The idea was absurd though, she knew. Ruby  _must_ have been shivering from the cold, because as she thought before, it was an incredibly cold day. Perhaps Ruby was shivering from being nervous? It wasn't an easy task, being thrust into the spotlight of a family as critical as the Schnees were, because she was the team leader after all. They probably wouldn't expect a girl as young as Ruby was to be leading the team, and especially someone who was quite admittedly rather childish in personality. A quick seeing to by Crescent Rose would probably dispel any false ideas the two had.

Ruby on the other hand, was thinking some rather different thoughts. And they didn't even involve heavy weaponry, which was weird enough in itself.

Her mind was a veritable mess of excitement, fear, and love-struckness. Weiss' sister's appearance was nothing short of absolutely astonishing. The twin pony tails were beautiful, she thought, and the sassy pose she had made her knees weaker by the minute. Hopefully the two Schnees were not coming over in their direction for a couple of hours, perhaps, to give Ruby enough time to stop shaking.

* * *

Weiss, meanwhile, was slowly losing control over the situation. Her mother and sister were both systematically nitpicking and tearing her team apart.

Her mother asked, "So this Ruby girl is only fifteen years old?"

Weiss nodded her head sharply and said "That is indeed correct. Having seen her tremendous skill on the battlefield, she is not to be underestimated."

Winter waved off her ridiculous claim, and said "Don't be absurd, there's no way anybody who is fifteen years old could possibly be an effective huntress! Especially not one who is working under a Schnee."

 _Oh. Would now be a good time to tell them that she wasn't actually in charge of team RWBY_? Her mother might be set off on one, just like Weiss was hardly a few weeks ago when she too discovered this fact. Perhaps it was better to just show them that all of her teammates were capable fighters rather than making all these claims which the two would probably not respond well to.

"Anyway, we've prolonged this disembarkment for long enough. I guess it is time we should meet Weiss' team for ourselves, and see if our suspicions are indeed correct," her mother said.

 _Oh no, they definitely won't be correct,_ Weiss thought inwardly. It would probably be best if she didn't aggravate them both too early into the visit, though, so she said nothing about the fact.

"Yes, let us do that," said Weiss. The staff members who were busying themselves with jobs around the airport where the Bullheads and Airships would land, wheeling crates along, maintaining the huge metal crafts, or in the Schnee Bullhead's pilot case, ferrying the suitcases inside of the building. "Thank you Jeeves, that is awfully kind of you," said Weiss to the grey-haired man. He nodded and continued with his work, dressed in a formal suit that was rather dashing. Since joining team RWBY, Weiss had certainly softened up a little, much as though she hated to admit it, and she treated the servants of the family with much more respect. Especially when they had piloting licenses, because those were not terribly easy to obtain.

The trio of Schnees began walking towards the rest of the team. Weiss did a quick and final lookover of her teammates. Ruby appeared to be shivering or something, but whatever it was, Blake was probably supporting her most by holding her shoulders as those wobbling legs probably wouldn't support the younger girl. Her eyes were firmly locked on Winter's legs, likely being careful not to look at the little princess. Blake was holding onto Ruby's shoulders as aforementioned, and seemed to sort of be staring into space. Yang was Weiss' only teammate who seemed to have maintained some kind of composure throughout.

Skipping forward rather quickly, and then facing her mother and sister, Weiss said, "Now then. I'd like to properly introduce you to team RWBY. First, there's Ruby…"

Said girl was shivering up a blizzard.

A quick elbow to the side, courtesy of Yang, fixed the situation.

"U-Uh.. Hi..? My n-name is Ruby.. I'm uh- _I mean_  it's a p-pleasure to meet you!" She quickly stuck her hand out for a handshake, and the two Schnees looked at it with distaste. As if the hand was some sort of repulsive creature that the very 'pinnacle of perfection' that the Schnees were was not something to be handled by them.

After a couple awkward seconds, Ruby shyly retracted her hand and looked embarrassed after realising that the two probably weren't awfully interested to meet her.

Blake then took initiative and decided to greet the mother and sister too, even though their personalities were less than a pleasure to be witness to.

"Hello. My name is Blake Belladonna, and it is a pleasure to meet both of you." A quick curtsey was delivered at the end of her sentence, and Weiss' mother looked fairly impressed. She seemed far more orderly than the little hooded girl that greeted them just before hand - no terrible stuttering, or silly handshakes, just a quick and polite introduction. She didn't have that bad of a dress on, either.

Weiss was definitely relieved, and it was very much visible in her eyes. She let out a breath that she likely didn't even know she was holding, and promptly moved on to the much livelier partner of Blake's.

"Hey there!" she said, "My name is Yang Xiao Long! Nice to meet you both!" Any hope Weiss had was quickly replaced with desperation and hopelessness as the blonde introduced herself, and Weiss' mother quickly decided that the girl in black - Blake, it was, was a much more polite and sensible person, much like Weiss. This Yang girl seemed far too careless, and likely caused so much trouble that she wasn't sure how she hadn't been kicked out already.

Winter didn't really seem to approve of Yang either, but she certainly cast an eye at Ruby. The little girl looked rather cute, twiddling her thumbs and huddling underneath her red cloak with that embarrassed blush on her face. She was cute in a childish way though. Certainly not relationship material, because she looked far too immature to really hold herself together. Honestly, she even stuttered just introducing herself!  _How unprofessional of a future huntress_ , Winter thought.

"And this is my mother, Bianca Schnee, and my sister, Winter Schnee." Said girl curtsied as she was taught to, and said "It is rather nice to meet you," but clearly not meaning it. Weiss' mother didn't say anything at all, which was even more worrying.

The group began to walk back to the dorm of team RWBY, Weiss not quite so eager to show them the horrifically dangerous bunk beds, but wanting to avoid any suspicion surrounding her team. Weiss marched forth near the front of the group, with Winter and her mother following not too far behind her, and then Yang and Blake following behind those chatting somewhat absentmindedly. Ruby followed the group somewhat gingerly, as if deep in thought.

Yang noticed this odd behaviour, and let the younger girl catch up to her. As soon as Ruby had dawdled her way over to Yang's side, the blonde asked, "So Ruby, you're acting weird. What's on your mind?" Somewhat shocked by the sudden appearance of the girl, Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin. Then, after calming down, she had to plan a careful response, so Yang didn't find out about the current crisis she was having over finding Winter completely and utterly infatuating to the point of hyperventilating.

"I was… Uh… Wondering, if, that… Uhh… They would be pleased… With our weapons?"

Weapons. The classic Ruby excuse.

Yang gave Ruby an odd look but passed it off as one of the young girl's many quirks and said "Whatever you say, sis." She suspected that Ruby was probably hiding something, but it was impossible to pin down just what it was at this point in time. It was a pretty typical Ruby thing to do, though, hide something until the last possible minute. She was sure that it probably wouldn't cause that much trouble, whatever it was.

* * *

Weiss' mother, Mrs Schnee, decided that instead of just lecturing Winter on how she should behave at such a prestigious academy, would instead attempt to make conversation with her daughter's teammates and perhaps get to know them a little bit better. So naturally, she picked the most refined and proper huntress-in-training she had met so far, and waited up for Blake.

Blake visibly stiffened slightly when Mrs Schnee slowed down to walk next to her. Having known Weiss' mother for all of about 10 minutes, Blake could expect anything from being ignored and maybe lectured on how to be proper to full on physical assault. She reckoned that the latter idea was probably a ridiculous figment of her own imagining, and that Mrs Schnee likely wouldn't assault her. A good thing she wouldn't, either, because she'd lose. A huntress in training was still a huntress in several respects.

_She is a Schnee though. It's better to keep my guard up if nothing else._

The woman cleared her throat, before turning to Blake, and said in what was possibly the wealthiest tone of voice Blake had ever heard, "Hello, Miss… Belladonna, was it?"

_Act natural._

"Yes, that is indeed my name," Blake responded, forcing the least disgusted look she could muster. The Schnee family didn't exactly treat faunus well.

"So, what has it been like working and fighting with Weiss?"

Blake hadn't really expected a question like that, and was actually far more prepared for a snarky comment, so Blake thanked her lucky stars that she didn't use the clever comeback she had ready on her tongue.

"It's, uh," Blake began, trying to think back to any notable experiences she had with the white haired heiress, "It's been pleasant. She is exceptionally skilled at using her rapier Myrtenaster and her dust in perfect tandem to defeat her enemies."

Mrs Schnee's lips curved upwards ever so slightly, obviously proud of the first-hand account of her daughter upholding the Schnee name. It wasn't a full smile though. Blake had to wonder if all Schnees were this cold.

"As expected of a Schnee, she can only be the best she can be. What about your other… More rambunctious, teammates?"

Blake didn't really like the light jab at her team, but she ignored the comment.

"Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long? Well, they are both sisters, and come from a small island called Patch."

Mrs Schnee seemed genuinely surprised at this revelation. "They're sisters? They don't look much alike."

Blake explained, "They've had a complicated family, but they're some of the strongest and most hard working people I've ever met. Just like Weiss really, they all work very hard to achieve the very best."

Blake hoped Mrs Schnee never caught the team on an average Saturday. Ruby would be listening to music and reading a weapons magazine, totally slacking off. Weiss would be in the library sometimes, studying, and if not that then she would often be shopping. Blake herself often read under the shade of the oak trees, and take an afternoon catnap. Yang would either be pestering everybody else or hitting the gym. It was a mixed bag of activities, really.

"And what about you? What kind of background does a rather refined lady such as yourself have?"

_Shit._

"I.. Uh.. A friend taught me how to fight for several years, and when he thought I was good enough, he sent me off to Beacon and here I am."

Mrs Schnee took it all in. "Interesting. Your choice of clothing is certainly unique, and I do like the bow."

_Good, because you won't be seeing it coming off anytime soon._

"I do wonder, however," Mrs Schnee began again. Blake sort of wanted the questions to stop, and wanted to just chat with Yang. "What are these weapons that you huntresses use? I know that Weiss uses a rapier of some sort, but what do you rest of you use to fight?"

Blake took Gambol Shroud out of it's sheath on her back. She eyed the black metal up and down, checking the the pistol's safety was activated and the ribbon was firmly attached. She really loved the black, silky ribbon of Gambol Shroud - it was actually her favourite part of the weapon, but nobody knew that. "This is my sword and pistol combination," Blake said, "I called it Gambol Shroud."

Mrs Schnee ran her finger down the sheath blade, surprised to find that no dust had collected on the weapon, and that it was kept extremely well - it was so clean, in fact, you could just about make out your own reflection in the blade. Blake let her look at it for a minute or so more, before putting it away and allowing the woman to continue.

"Interesting choice of weapon. What about that Yang girl? She looks strong, but not awfully disciplined."

Blake said, "Well, that is Yang's kind of style. She has gauntlets with shotguns mounted inside of them. It's a pretty explosive combination." Mrs Schnee didn't seem to be too interested in the unrefined style that Yang fought in.

"And the Ruby girl?"

Blake could imagine the girl's face lighting up at being asked this question. She'd squeal, get Crescent Rose and unfold it, and detail every last specification of the scythe-sniper rifle combination. Perhaps this would be a perfect way to convince the two Schnees that Ruby was in fact a valuable member of the team. That scythe of hers was absolutely terrifying. Ozpin himself, Blake recalled, had called it "one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed," at some point.

"Her weapon… is definitely something special. I think that words cannot quite describe it." Mrs Schnee raised an eyebrow. "Trust me, Mrs Schnee, you really have to see it to believe it."

The older woman seemed to give this a couple minutes of thought, and then decided to leave Blake alone. "Well, Miss Belladonna," she said, "This was a pleasant talk. Perhaps we could converse again at another time."

 _Please, no._ "Of course. Please, do enjoy your time at Beacon leading up to the tournament, Mrs Schnee."

With that, the white haired woman walked back to the front of the small group, where Weiss was waiting for her. They had nearly reached the dorms at this point, the building clearly in sight. The cobbled path underfoot winding between the lovely green gardens were definitely nice to walk on, even if she did embark on this path every day just to get to class.

Blake decided that Mrs Schnee might not be as bad as she originally thought. What she expected was some sort of tyrannical woman, who was crazy for power, and instantly devalued everybody else and their opinions. What Mrs Schnee actually was somewhat surprised the White Fang raised Blake - she was a strong, professional businesswoman, who stood tall and had made well for herself. You could hear it in the way she spoke, the very refined and sharp tone which was certainly not unpleasant to listen to. She held herself in high regard, of course, and was certainly not without flaws - one of these flaws being her likely high intolerance of faunus.


	4. Chapter 4

The group finally made their way to team RWBY dorm room. Weiss held a breath before opening the door, knowing that her mother especially probably wouldn't approve of the bedding. Alas, it was too late to change anything, so she opened the door wide and made a gesture to her mother and sister to enter. There was an audible gasp not even a second later and Weiss cringed a little, fearing what would inevitably follow.

"What in the name of  _dust_  is this, Weiss?" Her mother's finger was pointed at the precariously tied Ruby's bed, of course.  _Not like Yang's book-supported bunk is any better_ , she reminded herself. Winter, on the other hand, was more than mildly intrigued. As it appeared, she was actually admiring the bed that was suspended by rope.

"Umm…", Weiss started. "The room felt cramped, so we improvised."

"And you improvised by creating two death traps?"

"Mother, I actually think it's ingenious. They are huntresses-in-training and they need to learn to live dangerously."

Weiss thought about her sister's words.  _I have never thought of it this way._   _She actually has a point._  Clearly, her mother did not share the sentiment.

"Winter, a hunter is less in danger while sleeping than when in action. Sleeping on death traps is not fighting Grimm." She then turned to Weiss. "So, dear daughter, would you care to tell me which one is your bed?"

Weiss swallowed. "The… The one under the roped one."

Her mother's face tensed. "Well, I guess it is better than sleeping under the one that is supported by books. And who, if I may ask, sleeps on the bed above yours?"

Before Weiss could answer, she heard the excitable team leader answer. "Umm… I do, Miss… Mrs Schnee," she corrected herself after receiving a jab from Yang. Weiss' mother looked at her with suspicious eyes, measuring the girl from head to toe. Weiss felt uncomfortable at the sight, but Ruby seemed even more nervous, her knees wobbling again, as if she was cold or something.

"Your name was Ruby, am I correct?", the matriarch demanded, her tone icy. Ruby nodded. "Weiss tells me you're her partner and also two years younger." Ruby nodded again. "And Miss Belladonna told me your weapon is something different." Ruby's eyes flared and Weiss got scared a little, as she knew what was coming next. "Would you mind elaborating on that ?"

Ruby lit up like a lightbulb and jumped to the centre of the room, taking Crescent Rose from her belt. She held the folded weapon to show it to the two Schnee newcomers. Mrs Schnee looked at it, not understanding what was going on. "This is your weapon? It doesn't look like much."

Ruby took a breath, not believing what she heard. "It's Crescent Rose. A scythe," she said with slightly offended voice and unfolded it. Mrs Schnee jumped backwards at the loud sound of unfolding weapon while Winter remained in place and Weiss noticed her sister was slightly in awe of the spectacle.

The weapon unfolded and when the clicking stopped, it was taller than Ruby. Then the word avalanche let loose from Ruby's lips.

"It was designed by myself and custom made especially for me. It's a high-impact sniper scythe, with a blade at least as sharp and hard as titanium…"

Weiss drowned the babbling as she was used to it from earlier times Ruby started losing her composure while talking about her weapon, and fixed her gaze on her mother and Winter. Mrs Schnee looked quite interested in the weapon and listened intently, which was surprising for the heiress, as she never before saw her mother listening to someone as below her as Ruby.

But Weiss was more surprised at Winter's reaction. The younger sister looked at the weapon and sizing it up from the top to bottom and then up again, all while listening to Ruby's babble.

"... And it has an in-built twenty-millimetre bolt action rifle, and it doesn't even need to be extended to use it, like so," Ruby pressed a button and the oversized scythe swirled around, folded a little, then unfolding again until it resembled a shotgun, "and it can then be used as a more compact and convenient sniper rifle. It shoots with extreme precision as the barrel was meticulously crafted from the best material with the intention of minimizing the damage and loss of direction while the bullet is coming out of the barrel. I can also angle the scythe itself into a more reflexive position so slashing becomes more effective. I've not used it much, though, just once or twice in an encounter with some beowolves in a snowy forest..."

Ruby was done with the presentation, so she folded the weapon back into the non-lethal version and buckled it back on her belt. "And my uncle Qrow taught me how to use it. He's the best scythe wielder in Remnant. For now."

Weiss looked with interest at her mother, waiting for what she'd have to say.

Mrs Schnee gave the red-clad girl another surveying look before slowly speaking up. "Well, then. It might appear I underestimated your team, Weiss. The girls do seem like they know what they're doing. I'm sure it must be a great feeling leading this team."

"Yes!" was the immediate answer, though obviously not from the person Mrs Schnee expected. She looked at Weiss in surprise, and she could do nothing but try to disappear while looking at the floor. Mrs Schnee then looked back at Ruby, then back at Weiss.

"Weiss. Who is your team's leader?" The icy tone in Mrs Schnee's voice made even Yang uneasy, who was just stroking her hair.

Weiss pointed her finger at Ruby. "She is," she breathed out. "Team RWBY is led by Ruby Rose. I'm only her partner."

Mrs Schnee's face cleared. "Oh, well. I guess there must be a reason she was accepted here two years before her time. I would appreciate if you told me this sooner, though, Weiss."

Every person in the room save for Winter and Mrs Schnee let out a sigh of relief at those words. Weiss did lose herself in the thoughts for a moment later, though.

 _You never gave me a chance to tell you._  "I… Apologize, Mother. I will be swifter to bring you up to date with everything that happens."

"As for you, Miss Rose," Mrs Schnee turned back to the youngest huntress, "I must say I underestimated you back at the landing platform. You definitely are more than meets the eye. I expect great things from you."

Ruby sparkled with pride at the woman's kind words.

"Well, I'm off to check in at our hotel. Winter, do you want to stay here or come with me?"

Winter seemed to think for a moment. "What were you planning to do?"

"W-Well, it's late af-afternoon," Ruby started with a stutter that nobody expected, "so I don't t-think we were going t-to do much other t-than some homework and then g-get ready for b-bed."

Blake chimed in. "You could join us tomorrow, though. We were planning on training after classes."

"I must say I expected the leader to tell me your plans, but eh. I guess that'll do. Goodbye then!"

With those words, she turned away and started walking towards the door. Blake noticed Ruby started shaking again, and when she saw where on the younger Schnee sister's body Ruby was looking, she couldn't help but smile a little at Ruby's adorableness. But the smile was quickly replaced with anger when she noticed a small huff from Winter as she left the room.

Blake held back the rage that the sassy girl evoked for long enough that she was sure nobody but her team would hear her.

"Weiss, I didn't think it was possible, but your sister is even colder than you."

* * *

Ruby lay in her bed, thinking about the rollercoaster of a day she'd just had. She woke up, went about her normal routine, did some light studying with Weiss in the library, then went to find Yang and Blake. The four then saw the Schnee's bullhead, changed into their better clothes and went out to meet the mother and sister of Weiss.

And that's where Ruby's crisis began.

Her jaw dropped when she first saw Winter. Her hair was perfect, her face was beautiful, her dress was immaculate and just how  _sassy_ she was! Ruby physically shook and her knees wobbled when she spoke. There was no way in hell that she'd be able to keep up a coherent conversation with the goddess of a girl if she was the trembling, near-wreck she was at the moment.

Hell, even Weiss' mother was easier to talk to, but in fairness she had gotten plenty of praise from the woman so far and not much else.

Her mind was just a jumble at this point. She really really, nearly even like-liked Weiss. But then, she was utterly infatuated by Winter, too. What attention she received from the girl made her feel so special, in a way she'd never felt before.

Ruby had to keep her focus though, she couldn't get distracted - they all still had to train for the tournament, anyway. And that's what tomorrow was about, anyway. She would be training with the others to get better, and hopefully impress the Schnees and show them that she was definitely the leader Weiss, Blake and Yang deserved.

Would she get Winter to notice her, though? Gosh. This was turning into one of those ridiculous animated shows that Blake often watched. She never admitted it though, but was quite passionate when she argued about it. They always had big eyes, and silly relationships… which Blake was keen on arguing about… ah, she didn't know. Yang usually poked fun at Blake for watching these shows.

Back to the point… Ruby was pretty much between a rock and a hard place.

* * *

The next day eventually rolled around, and Ruby seemed to be the third person to get up. Weiss and Blake were already fully awake, showered and dressed, and seemed to catch her just as she stumbled out of bed.

"We're going down to the food court now to get some breakfast. Anything you want?" Weiss asked Ruby with a surprisingly gentle tone. She couldn't decipher if she was speaking softly because she cared about her, or because Weiss didn't want to wake up Yang. The latter would be hard, though, because Yang was an amazingly heavy sleeper. It took nothing short of a bucket of ice cold water to wake her up from her ursa-style hibernation.

"I, uh, I'd like strawberry pancakes if they have any. Yang would want a big bowl of cereal or something like that. I don't know - she'd be fine with anything, just as long as she doesn't go hungry."

Weiss nodded and then said, "Okay then - come on Blake, lets go."

After saying their rather quick goodbyes, Ruby then got up and went to go and have a shower before her older sister did. Otherwise, she'd be sat there all day. Today was an important day, and she'd have to take extra care in making herself look good, if she wanted to appeal to the Schnees, especially a certain twin-ponytailed beauty.

Her hair seemed to be fine, almost as good as it was yesterday. Her clothes were her other best pair of combat skirt, corset and combat boot combination. With the cloak at her shoulders and a confident smirk on her face, she was just about to step outside as she remembered something, courtesy of a loud snore.

_Oh yeah. Yang._

She left a message to Yang on her scroll, saying that the rest of the team had gone to breakfast. She tightened her cloak, and stepped outside and began the small trek to the food court.

It didn't take long, and soon she found herself inside the building and sat at her team's usual table. Weiss was eating a salad of some sort, because she disliked the more savoury products that the school had to offer. Blake was indulging in a light tuna sandwich, which was rather typical of the girl. Ruby sat down at her place next to Weiss where pancakes topped with strawberries were already waiting for her.

"Thanks, Weiss," said Ruby as she tucked into the breakfast that the girl in white had gotten for her. Weiss obviously wasn't that pleased that the younger girl chose to eat such a sweet breakfast, even if strawberries were her favourite food. She had too much sweet food every day, and that wasn't even counting the cookies she'd often sneak into class during the week.

"So," Blake said, "You just left Yang on snooze?"

Ruby, with a mouth full of strawberry pancake, said "Nugh-ugh.. *gulp*, Ah, I left her a message on her scroll, for whenever she wakes up."

"It's nine o clock already, Ruby, we need Yang to get up. Especially with my family around, we can't have her leave a bad impression by just sleeping there all day!"

_Oh. Right._

"Well Weiss… I uh, didn't wake her up… Because I didn't want her to be cranky? I'm sorry!"

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed - something she'd become accustomed to doing having spent so much time with Ruby - and let out a long sigh. "Look, Ruby, it's fine… We'll go and wake her up later."

 _And by we, I mean someone who will dodge her punch with no effort whatsoever,_ Weiss thought _._ But she didn't say anything and indulged in her salad.

It didn't take them too long to finish their meal, so they didn't lose too much time. Before they got in their room, Weiss turned to her team.

"Look girls, I know waking Yang is not… The most pleasing task, but I need one of you to wake her up. I don't think I'm agile enough to dodge that powerful punch of hers. You two definitely have more experience with it than me."

Ruby and Blake looked at each other and quickly nodded. Then the door to their room opened and there was Yang, already awake.  _Dodged that bullet,_ the two dark haired girls thought.

"Heya, guys! Why didn't you wake me?"

"You looked so peaceful and I'd feel bad about it," Ruby quickly replied.  _Yeah, right,_  Weiss thought.  _As gracious as a whale probably._

"Ha, sis, sure. I know for a fact I look as peaceful as an enraged rhino when I sleep."  _You got that one right._

Blake's monotone cut in. "None of them wanted to take the punch when they woke you."

Yang laughed and said "Pfft! Don't be silly, when have I  _ever_ punched you when I've only just woken up?" Ruby proceeded to put her hands on her hips and pout.  _Oh my gosh. That's even more adorable than when she was squeaking._

"Like, you know, all the time when we were kids?"

"Ruby, you have no evidence."

"I have the scars to prove it."

"Jeez sis," Yang said, "that was  _one_ time. It wasn't my fault I slept with Ember Celica on. I was an excited little girl!"

"Yeah, and I was a crying little girl when you punched me. I was in A&E for the whole week."

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy those days off-"

"NOW I'M SURE THAT THIS IS A VERY LOVELY TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE," Weiss shouted, grabbing both of the arguing girls' attention, "but we do need to meet Winter and my mother. They said they wanted to see us training, did they not?"

"Oh yeah." Well, Ruby now felt rather silly. "So have we all had breakfast and freshened up?"

Yang responded, saying "Yeah, I had a shower earlier when you all left me. I was so broken up over it, I was crying my eyes out!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, not particularly caring for the blonde's well over-exaggerated story of despair, which more than likely didn't even happen. "Next time, if you want breakfast, you should wake up earlier."

"Nuh-uh, you should have woken me up earlier."

Weiss sent an ice cold glare towards Yang. "We are  _not_ having this argument again. Drop it."

After having successfully shut Yang up, the team headed down towards the locker rooms where their weapons were stored on the weekends. They could still be accessed, of course, in case any teams wanted to get some extra practice in, but for safety in and around the site, they had to be kept under lock and key so nobody was accidently maimed or shot. Surprisingly, very few people were in the locker room - it was often filled with a team or two getting ready to spar in one of the available rooms, but today it was deserted. They could even hear their own voices echoing.

"It's awfully quiet today," Blake said, breaking the silence. That wasn't something she did often.

"I guess everyone has gone to meet their families who are coming to watch for the tournaments? Like, Weiss' family came one day early," Ruby explained to her. There were very few students in the food court this morning too, and the air docks were especially busy. It didn't take much to put two and two together.

Weiss reached into her locker after unlocking it, and took out Myrtenaster. She examined the rapier up and down. It was a fine sword, with absolutely perfect weight balance and distribution, and it shone like a star in the night sky. The revolver mechanism for the dust seemed to be in perfect working order, and all the parts interlocked perfectly. She loaded in some of the dust cartridges from her bag, and made sure the barrel was working fine before giving it a final spin and locking the sword back into place. A practice swing or two later, she was ready to go.

Unlike a certain redhead.

Ruby was exceptionally nervous, and that was an understatement. Winter and Mrs Schnee had been impressed by her weapon yesterday, but what if she screwed up in the match and the two went back to thinking she was just a little girl? Winter wouldn't ever like her again, and she would probably just break down there and then if that did happen. The twin ponytails going past her waist, that sassiness… She couldn't bear the thought of it disappearing forever.

"Ruby? You getting your scythe, or, uh, what?" Yang's voice made Ruby jump slightly.

"Aha!" She rubbed the back of her head. "I was, er, just making sure that all of my maintenance stuff for Crescent Rose was in order. You know, spanners are all totally different, and it's a pain when you get 'em mixed up.. Eheh…"

Yang stretched, popping her back, and said, "Well, you should probably hurry up. We don't want to keep the ice queen waiting. I think Blake has already gone."

 _Right._ Ruby picked up the folded Crescent Rose, and eyed it up and down. Partially unfolding it to the sniper rifle form, she gave it a quick once over with the polish to make sure it really shined. That'd catch her eye. Then, she fully unfolded it, made sure every segment of the blade was screwed in as tight as possible, cleaned the barrel and then finally folded it back up, and attached it to her back, ready to go.

"You're finally done? You take forever with that thing," Yang said, simply putting Ember Celica on her wrists, unfolding them and cocking the shotguns to make sure that they were ready. Ruby doubted she even bothered to put extra ammo in it, or even take the ammo out overnight.

Ammo which Ruby  _very nearly_ forgot, and only just remembered to run back and go and get from her locker as she was mocking Yang in her head. Whoops.

The sisters walked outside and met Weiss and Blake, one of whom was not particularly happy about the late arrivals, and set off to the docks to see if Weiss' mother and Winter had returned from their night at the hotel yet. Blake was also checking her weapon over as they walked, which was a smart idea as the many forms of the weapon made for a fairly lengthy check-up session. Of course, not as long a session as Crescent Rose's, but Ruby kept her scythe in perfect condition, so there was not much need to give it a detailed examination every time she picked it up.

"So," Yang began, "who will be fighting who?"

"Well. I thought I would have a bout with Ruby, as you two already fought yesterday, and could use the rest and motivation," Weiss replied.

"It'll also be a good opportunity for Ruby to show that she's a competent leader to your mother and sister," Blake added, omitting the 'and show off to Winter, trying to win her over' part. Though she did put a subtle emphasis on 'your sister'.  _What a mess she's in. Her mind must be a mess. Hopefully she won't stress over this too much._

The team seemed happy with this setup, and so picked up the pace to get to their destination more quickly. As they walked along the path, many students were walking past them with their own family visiting.

"I thought my pretty girls would await my arrival at the docks. I was hurt when I saw that wasn't the case."

Ruby and Yang turned around faster than you could say "training" at the sound of those words. There stood a man, about as tall as Yang or slightly taller, with greying blonde hair, dressed in a simple brown suit, wearing a plain yellow shirt underneath. On his face there was a neatly kept goatee. His brown eyes were happy, but tired with worry. His smile didn't show any of that worry, though.

"Daddy!", Ruby yelled on top of her lungs before jumping straight into this man's embrace. Yang followed not far behind, running into the man's open arms as Ruby clung to his neck. Weiss watched the happy family and a small tear pooled in the corner of her eye.  _If only my father was like this…_

The trio eased off their embrace and the barrage of questions hit the man.

"How did you get here? When? Did anything bad happen to you?" Those were just a few of the questions. The man just lifted his hand and the girls stopped as if they were frozen.  _So much respect. They are better raised than I thought._

"Girls, girls, one question at a time. For the first one: I came here with my rowboat."

"You rowed all the way from Patch? Why?" Ruby's voice was full of concern.

"Well, what is a retired Hunter to do? I can't let these babies," he said, lifting his muscular arms, "go to waste. I can't hunt Grimm and if I went cutting trees or whatever, there would be no more trees on Patch when you two got home for vacation," he continued with a wide smile. A smile that, Weiss noticed, was practically the same as Yang's. The more Weiss looked at Yang and her father, the more obvious it became to her that the two are a carbon copy of each other, other than the gender.  _Hopefully he has more manners._  Though that wasn't likely, at least not after the first impression and calling his arms "babies".

This man then looked around and noticed his daughters' partners. "Girls, why are you so rude? Introduce me to your friends."

"Oh," Ruby turned around, suddenly remembering that they weren't alone. She led her father to Weiss and Blake. "Dad, these two are Weiss and Blake. Weiss is my partner and Blake is Yang's. Together, we form team RWBY! Oh, and I'm the leader!", the younger girl beamed with pride.

"A Schnee is your partner, Ruby? My name is Taiyang. Pleased to meet you, fair lady," he said, kissing the heiress' hand. Weiss actually blushed slightly.  _He's just as much of a dolt as Ruby._  He kissed Blake's hand next. "And you, Miss Blake. I like the bow, but I think you'd look prettier without it."

Blake tensed at those words just enough that Weiss could notice.  _He couldn't possibly…_

Before anyone could say anything, Taiyang already turned around to his daughters. "Ruby, congratulations on being named the team leader. Over two obviously skilled huntresses like Weiss and Blake? That's quite a feat."

"Hey, I'm skilled too!", Yang said with a pout.

"Little dragon, of course you are. Just not as much as those two."

"You don't even know them yet!" Another pout. Blake had to admit that Yang was just as much of a dork as Ruby, only a bit older.  _Kinda cute, too._


	5. Chapter 5

Team RWBY and Taiyang carried on along their original path to get towards the docks. After the slight delay in Ruby getting absurdly excited about seeing her father again for the first time in a good few months, and Yang having to get the little red speed demon under control, it was slightly later on in the morning, and less students walked by as more had already gotten their own visitors in and around the school on impromptu tours.

"So," Taiyang said, "would you mind introducing me to these two lovely teammates of yours properly, Yang?"

_He is so similar to Yang, it's scary._

"Well. Short stuff in white with the cold attitude would be Weiss Schnee."

"Hey!"

"She has a bit of a reputation for being cold, so cold she's called the ice queen."

"That is  _not_ tru-"

"And she has a kickass multi-action dust rapier! It can use dust to set things on fire, or freeze things…" Ruby interrupted Weiss. Yang quickly added, "If her attitude doesn't freeze them anyway. Heh."

Weiss didn't even get a chance to talk.

Taiyang's eyes were full of mirth as he watched the odd spectacle of friendship unfold. Yang was wiping tears from her eyes, and Ruby was now fussing over the heiress, who did  _not_ look to be in a good mood. Her eyes had regained that ice cold sharpness that they always did when she got angry, and Blake knew it wouldn't be long before she started to have a go at the sisters for being loud, or messy, or rude, or just about anything she could think of. Before this could happen, Yang saved herself by shifting the focus away from Weiss, and onto Blake.

"And this here is my partner, Blake Belladonna."

Considering that Taiyang was a lot closer to Yang in disposition than he was Weiss, like Mrs Schnee was, Blake thought it would be a good idea to go in for a polite handshake.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Xiao Long."

Never had she made a bigger mistake in her entire life.

Taiyang moved his hands towards hers and at the  _very_ last second, just as Blake was about to close her hand around his, he brought it up to his nose and wiggled his fingers, making a ridiculous sound with his tongue.

Ruby was doubled over in laughter. Yang was laughing heartily. Weiss looked mildly horrified that this man was allowed to take care of young children.

"Ha-ha! Gotcha!", he shouted. Blake couldn't believe it. She hadn't been tricked like that, ever. It was so humiliating. No way was she ever going to be able to recover from this.

A certain blonde daughter of Taiyang noticed this and obviously decided that being sad wasn't allowed.

Wrapping her arm around Blake's shoulders, Yang said "Pfft, Dad, you're literally the worst. Cheer up Blake! We'll be getting to watch these two squirts spar, won't we?" Blake pretty clearly picked up the subtle implication meant for Taiyang that there would be some action today. It seems that he also picked up on it, turning towards Ruby who was walking by his side.

"You and the ice queen are having a spar?"

"Why does everybody keep calling me that...?"

"Yup!", she shouted, "You betcha! She's gonna use her Myrtenaster, and i'm going to use sweetheart of course, and we're gonna have this amazing fight and AAUUUGHHH, you're gonna LOVE IT!"

The girl could barely contain herself, and she was quite literally bouncing up and down as she was walking along with the group. Blake, on her usual keep-Ruby-pinned-down duty, put her hands on her shoulders and walked behind her. "Very easily excited, she is. Does she get that from you, Mr. Xiao Long?", she asked the man himself.

"Eh, I'm not sure. That might have been from her own mother, but who knows, eh?"

Upon hearing this, Weiss was now interested in what kind of secrets Ruby and Yang held from her. She already knew that Blake used to be a White Fang operative, and she had already spilled the beans about her own difficult childhood as heiress, but it had only just occurred to her that she had very little knowledge about the sisters' past, beyond knowing that they grew up on a small island. She wanted to ask Ruby where her mother was, why she looked so different to Yang and Taiyang, but it wasn't her place to ask. She should be respectful when handling the two, and let them tell her in their own time.

 _If_ they were ever going to.

* * *

The group were still walking towards the docks when Weiss stopped in the middle of her sentence, talking to Ruby, and remembered something.

_Winter and Mother are coming._

_That's why we're going to the docks._

_How will they react to Tai- Mr Xiao Long? Oh my gosh. This is not good._

She stopped abruptly and turned to the whole group.

"Winter and my Mother are still coming, please remember that. That means you, Yang, no awful puns. Ruby, don't go on a sugar rush like you usually do. Blake, you carry on being Blake. Lose the attitude Ruby, it's not my fault they're such perfectionists. And no, for the last time, you can't do a strip search of the bullhead to see if there are actually any weapons."

Taiyang raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so that's why we were still going to the docks? To meet the Schnees themselves? Well, what an honour that is."

_Hardly._

"She must mean it Ruby, and you Yang, so just be on your best behaviour."

"But Daaaaaaaad!", Ruby cried out, acting like a child, "I was like this yesterday and they were totally fine with it."

 _No you weren't,_ Blake added mentally,  _you nearly collapsed every time Winter started talking._

"They're right there. Just stay here, I'll go get them, and then we'll head off," Weiss said in her firm tone. That tone she always used when she wanted zero arguments, and no debate. That didn't stop Ruby from trying, though.

"But Weiss, why-"

As if she could read the future, Blake already had both hands on the young girl. "Go on," she said to Weiss, who thanked her and went on her way.

Weiss stepped towards her mother and sister, who were waiting by one of the docks.

"Mother, sister, how did you enjoy your night?"

"It was dreadful," Winter started. "I mean, a five star hotel that doesn't have cashmere sheets? What kind of barbarians live here in Vale?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, hoping Winter wouldn't notice. Then her mother spoke. "I'm sorry, deary, you know how sensitive Winter is to the most trivial things. The hotel was fine. I do have a complaint about the breakfast. I understand  _a la carte_  breakfast, but there was not much choice really. The only thing that was in high supply was different kinds of toast. But then again, it was edible, so it's not really a complaint, more of an observation. The beds were perfect, though."

Winter seemingly noticed Ruby and the rest of the group. Of course that included Taiyang. "Sister, who is that man back there?"

Weiss looked at the man as if she didn't see him before. "That's Ruby's and Yang's father, Winter. He came today, rowing all the way from Patch."

"Patch?", Winter asked in a raised voice. "What's Patch?"

Weiss sighed. "It's an island off the coast of Vale, about thirty miles south."

"That's impressive," mother said. "He must be very strong. Well then, you were saying something about watching you train?"

"Yes," Weiss said with a slight hint of a smile. "Me and Ruby are going to have a spar. Should we go towards the park?"

Mother nodded and Weiss led her family towards her team. When the white haired trio reached the team, Weiss suddenly felt a little nervous. "M-Mister… Taiyang, this is my mother Bianca Schnee," Taiyang slightly bowed before kissing the older aristocrat's hand, "and this is my younger sister, Winter." Taiyang repeated the moves he used on the mother. Winter looked at him with slightly masked disgust, but Taiyang either didn't see it or didn't mind.

Weiss looked at her team and noticed Ruby was slightly shaking again.  _It's not that cold today. Is she sick?_  "Ruby," she asked and the younger girl timidly looked at Weiss, "are you okay?"

"P-Perfectly fine, Weiss."

"You're shaking," Weiss said, pointing out the obvious.

"Oh, that," Ruby said while scratching the back of her head.  _Cute._  "It… It's because… Because I'm a little nervous. Y-You know, beating you to a pulp in front of your f-family."

"You're on, Rose! Don't think I'll simply let you win, you know!"

From the back, Winter was looking at this whole exchange while secretly observing Ruby's every move. The girl was shaking for some reason and Winter didn't know exactly. She didn't know why she was so dazzled by this younger girl's scruffy and childish look. Her hair was swept in messy angles by the wind, the cloak was swaying back and forth as if it actually had some kind of conscience, and her dazzling face which always seemed to light up at the littlest things… She was interesting, certainly.

"Anyway," Weiss ended the trash talk between the partners, "let's go to the arena. I don't want to delay this for longer than needed." With that, she started walking back towards the park on the campus that was perfect for the spar.

It was going to be a hard fight for Weiss, she knew. Probably the hardest of her life.  _Scratch that. Second hardest._  She unwillingly lifted her hand, touching the scar under her left eye, the fight that gave her that scar coming back to her. She quickly realized what she was doing and dropped her hand back down to her side.

* * *

Not long afterwards, the group reached the quite sizable park with barely any obstacles. Just a flat piece of land, covered in grass. Taiyang, Yang, Blake, Winter and Mrs Schnee stood by the side while the two girls walked to the centre of the park and stood face to face, their weapons in hands. A small forest wasn't too far off, and that meant she would probably have to be careful using her fire dust, lest she repeat the initiation accident.

 _Okay. You can do this. Stop shaking,_  Ruby kept telling herself, but for some reason Winter's presence made her a little weak at the knees, and she didn't exactly know why. She tried to force herself to concentrate on the fight before her.

 _Why is she still shaking like that? And why do I care this much?_  Weiss stood there, her pose the perfect fencing stature, Myrtenaster tightly in her left hand's grip. She had a focused look to herself, the one that left no room for jokes or anything that wasn't specifically what was at hand.  _Well, she is my partner, so I guess I sort of have to take care of her..._

"Oh, hey, guys! Are you going to have a spar?"

Everybody looked at the source of the voice, which belonged to a certain blonde with difficulty getting hints. Behind him, the other three members of team JNPR stood. Nora, with her wild ginger hair and huge hammer. Pyrrha to her left, with her spear and shield on her back, flowing red hair topping her head as usual. Ren stood silently behind Nora, simply enjoying the surroundings.

"And who in the name of Dust are you?" Ruby was surprised at hearing Winter say that, even in such a dismissive voice, probably only saying it because she wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. Somehow her voice made her quiver just a little more.  _Damn it, and I've just calmed down. Why am I quivering so much?_

_Maybe it's how sassy she is?_

"My name's Jaune Arc, snow princess. And you?" Ruby rolled her eyes, but didn't see Pyrrha's disappointed face.

That face was not missed by Weiss and Blake, though. Blake felt hurt  _for_ Pyrrha - anybody watching the redhead and the knight interact would clearly see that the spartan was trying so desperately to get him to notice her. Both of them cringed a little and Blake sent a look of compassion at Pyrrha. The redhead gladiator saw that and sent a thankful smile back.

"Wow, um, rude," Winter's sass oozed from her as she looked at Jaune in disgust. "For the record, I'm Winter Schnee and I'm not just out of your league, I'm out of your planet, oaf."

Ruby had to admit, that was a very good comeback. And somehow that made her shake a little more.  _Oh, gosh, Ruby! Calm down, by Dust!_ She had a spar to fight not even a few seconds from now. Going in with shaking knees would not help at all.

"I… I…" Jaune was speechless. Yang got to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Jauney boy," Yang started. "I think the term you're looking for is 'you got wrecked!' - that's spelt R - E - K - T, by the way."

Jaune looked down in defeat and moved to the other side of the field.

"Hey, Ruby, do you mind if we watch you two spar?"

Ruby shook her head. "No, Pyrrha, not at all." She then sent a subtle gesture towards Jaune and a hopeful look in Pyrrha's direction, hoping that she would understand that Ruby meant to make sure Jaune didn't do any more stupid stuff. Then she positioned herself in a battle stance, her knees almost turning to normal again.

"Okay, Ice Queen, let's do it."

Weiss nodded, just slightly annoyed at the nickname. "I don't even care at this point. Ready when you are."

Ruby dashed towards Weiss, just like Weiss expected. Crescent Rose's hilt blade was pointed towards Weiss' midsection, but Weiss saw that and easily blocked, but before she realized what happened, the back of her head was struck by the flat side of the blade. The impact sent her flying a little.

Weiss then quickly picked herself up and positioned herself back into defensive stance, preparing herself for the inevitable flurry of strikes that was coming her way. She remained on the defensive for quite a while, blocking hit after hit and failing occasionally. Ruby was quick to gain a lot of advantage, especially in the aura department, as Weiss had to block some hits with her own aura.

The light blade of Myrtenaster was definitely not something designed to go head-on into battle with such a huge and heavy blade like Crescent Rose's. Designed for stabbing, parrying and then retreating, it was the perfect blade for a situation opposite to the one she was in.

A huge slice of Crescent Rose diagonally, coupled with Ruby's smirk urged Weiss on not to give up. Try as though she did, every time she went to deflect a blow from the huge scythe, the sheer force behind the swings would simply render the move useless and more often than not knock Weiss back a fair few feet. Her only hopes were to be faster with her blade, but battling against somebody like Ruby, with a semblance which was literally super speed, trying to be faster than her opponent was pointless.

It was actually surprising how quickly and deftly the young girl could swing the weapon - it was taller than she was, and certainly wasn't light. She almost felt sorry for the beowolves who had to face this weapon. Now though, she was the one facing it, and with every swing, she was losing ground and losing aura. A quick slash to the right in a meager attempt to block another huge arc of Crescent Rose confirmed Weiss' suspicions - she would need to get creative here.

Finally, she decided it was enough, and had her plan hatched rather quickly. She parried a hit, rolled away and rolled the Dust Revolver on her Myrtenaster, stopping it on Ice. She then made a small artistic figure with the tip of the rapier and a ball of ice erupted from it. Seeing this pretty obvious display of Dust, Ruby was already in the air, holding Crescent Rose above her head. _She's so dangerous with that oversized weapon._  The ball of ice managed to strike Ruby directly into her abdomen, from where an icy beam formed and pinned the younger girl in place, suspended in the air.

Another roll of the Dust Revolver, this time stopping on Lightning, another artistic move and a bolt of lightning made her way towards Ruby's suspended body. The lightning bolt hit Ruby and shattered the ice with its strength, propelling the younger girl a couple dozen feet back and draining quite a sizeable chunk of her aura. As if nothing happened, though, Ruby managed to do a backflip in the air and graciously land on her feet, prepared to lunge towards Weiss again. She couldn't just carry on using her Dust, and Weiss knew that, but with a smaller blade and being severely outgunned, it was the only hope she really had.

Ruby had a different idea, though. She turned Crescent Rose so the barrel faced the ground, and pulled the trigger, resulting in a loud bang. The recoil of the shot sent Ruby flying straight into the air and Weiss couldn't see her partner as she was covered by the sun shining brightly, blinding Weiss if she'd watch there. She quickly remembered that she'd see a shadow on the ground as the younger girl would start coming closer.

Another loud bang and Weiss knew what that meant. She braced for impact, still watching the floor intensely for any sign of Ruby's shadow.

Weiss noticed the shadow just a fraction of a second too late and all that remained for her was to brace herself, putting her aura up in hopes of minimizing the damage.

Oddly enough, the blow from the wicked scythe never came.

Ruby had tumbled over in an elegant spinning attack, and Weiss didn't know why or how. Putting it down to dizziness and perhaps a loss of aura, she made sure to find her footing and prepare for the next part of the battle, where semblances would really start to kick in and be used to their full effect. It wasn't often huntresses opened up fights with their semblances - usually costing a fair amount of aura to use, it was a reckless move, and if the opponent could be defeated without using a semblance, then it was a waste of time.

Ruby, meanwhile was kicking herself internally. In the air, she had spotted Winter looking on at her with what was pretty clearly awe, and a lot of it. This revelation made her feel light headed, and the momentary lapse in concentration was more than enough to throw off her entire attack.  _She's looking. Oh dust, she's looking. I wonder if she saw me looking at her._

Propping herself back up, loading a new thick red magazine of gravity-dust empowered ammunition, Ruby searched the treeline for her opponent. Taiyang… team JNPR… Weiss' mother… Winter's pretty form… the rapier wielder was quite literally nowhere to be seen. It was almost as if she had simply disappeared. Making sure to not get too relaxed, she shifted her legs into a more defensive stance, as she waited for the other girl to make the first move.

Bursting out of the trees in a flash of ice dust, Weiss skated along the ground towards Ruby in her graceful lunge, which was  _less_ than pleasant to be on the receiving end of, she knew. Jumping out of the way, a swipe to Weiss' left with Myrtenaster sent a column of ice sprouting upwards from the ground Ruby's way, and had she not quickly launched herself into the air with recoil once again, she'd have probably lost there and then.

_She's in the air, again. I have no counter for that, I just have to wait for her to come down._

With a practiced movement, Ruby flipped Crescent Rose around in mid air, and the scythe shifted into its rifle form, allowing Ruby a lot more freedom of movement than she had with the cumbersome scythe. Taking several potshots at the girl on the ground, Weiss seemed to dance around most of the impact areas, and before Ruby knew it, she was flying through the canopy.

Unfolding her scythe once again, Ruby angled herself towards the thickest tree she could see, and one she was heading towards  _very_ quickly. Holding Crescent Rose out, the scythe blade caught the thick old oak and she spun around the tree before launching herself off of her makeshift catapult with another heavy shot of the gravity rounds. Weiss barely had time to react as the crimson blur flew overhead, but not without a good attempt at Weiss' stomach with the blunt end.

Just because it was blunt didn't mean it did not hurt like hell. Weiss almost doubled over, but refused to back down as she came up with yet another plan - A plan shot down immediately by another pass from the girl in red, who was now bouncing from tree to tree, like a pinball. If pinballs had deadly red scythes, anyway. Perhaps it was the scythe that made her act like she did.

While Ruby's aura was slowly trickling away, Weiss' was taking large chunks of damage at a time, and it was not looking good. When the reaper finally stopped launching herself around the battlefield, probably feeling the first effects of fatigue, the two engaged in close quarter combat once again. Weiss made delicate but lethal patterns with her rapier against Ruby, who was having a bit more trouble after expending the amount of aura that she did. In response, Ruby had brought up her scythe's shaft in order to block this downwards strike, anticipating a move in advance which never came.

What instead came was a jab from Myrtenaster that almost sent her reeling, had she not tensed at the moment of impact, softening the damaging move. Now on her back, with Weiss approaching fast, she attempted to recover her standing in the battle, by swinging her scythe around in a large arc, and Weiss was forced to back off as she rose to her feet in a fancy looking flip.

"Haa-" she breathed, "y-you're gonna have to try harder than that, ice queen."

Winter was watching the fight from the sidelines and her mouth made a tiny smile every time Ruby landed a small hit on Weiss.  _She is very good._  She wanted Ruby to win. There was no denying. The younger girl stole her heart when she wasn't looking, probably without even trying. The childish girl managed to do something Winter never thought anyone could.

Weiss was once again met with the crimson red steel of Crescent Rose's blade, and once again she found herself swinging Myrtenaster upwards in what was now becoming desperate moves to make sure she didn't sustain any blows to herself. It was definitely becoming a common theme, she thought, as a jab and a hop backwards proved to still have a fairly small effect on Ruby. Backing off, the girl in red had made an interesting decision, as she had the advantage in close up combat, and they both knew it.

Then, she twirled her scythe around, a good fifty metres away from Weiss, planted the lethally sharp blade into the ground, and began the barrage.

Twenty millimetre ammunition was nothing to laugh at. Nor was a rate of fire of one per second something to laugh at either. Weiss almost wished she listened to Ruby's ramblings about weapons, as if it would give her the edge in this battle.

The only edge that was in action now was Weiss running forward, having to get closer to use what little dust she had left, and making small palm-sized glyphs to protect herself. Such a heavy calibre shattered the magical constructs upon impact, but they defended Weiss nevertheless. When she was within about fifteen meters, Ruby had panic on her face as Weiss spun Myrtenaster's barrel to choose her fate.

_Red. I don't use that often. There's plenty left. It's red like roses._

Taking the opportunity of the redhead finally running out of ammunition, Weiss twirled around and stabbed the thin blade into the ground. The red shaft of the sword buried itself into the ground, and flames spread in a huge circle around Ruby, effectively trapping the girl in.  _Oh dust. I can't lose this!_

Burning hot flames caused by the red dust seemed to surround and envelop Ruby, trapping her as the heiress manipulated the flames closer and closer towards the victim before finally making her move, and dashing in with a fire-powered strike against Ruby. Weiss, of course, knew it was now over - there was no visible way out of the firestorm she had created, and that lead to her being once again surprised when her rapier swung and successfully hit thin air.

_She's gone! Again! She ran out of ammo a long time ago, though, so-_

A heavy blow dealt to her back let Weiss know everything she needed to, as did the shower of rose petals and the rushing of wind, almost putting out the strong fires which were still ablaze at her feet.

_Her semblance._

Stopping at the other edge of the field, Ruby looked towards her bystanders whose expressions were of different ranges, between the excited Yang, interested Taiyang, the cheering Nora and the absolutely mortified Schnees. Probably not because Weiss was getting her backside handed to her, either. They probably never saw battles like this.

A quick wink at the shocked Winter gave Ruby all the strength and courage she needed to literally fly towards Weiss in her signature blizzard of rose petals. Winter watched, slightly dreamy, at the spot where Ruby was not a second ago.

Pulling back the reflexive blade to make the scythe as straight and easy to handle at such high speeds as possible, Ruby was now in full semblance-powered sprint towards her target, covering dozens of meters every second.

The Schnee doing battle, on the other hand, was not having this. She saw Ruby making her next move already. If she didn't act within a few seconds, the fight would be over for her. Summoning up what strength she had left to fight, her glyphs lined the ground once again as the ice patch in front of her allowed Weiss to move incredibly quickly, at speeds even she thought weren't possible.

If they were going to clash, Weiss would lose, and that's why her last remaining dust was spent forging the huge ice cleaver sword.

That's why when they did clash, everything seemed to stop still, completely still, as if time itself had frozen. One large scythe, made of the shiniest red metal. One huge icy sword, carved into the ground. A trail of destruction in the two girl's wakes - Weiss didn't even realise she had used so much dust, having pushed Ruby back as far as she did, barely a meter or two away from the bystanders once again.

And then was the crack, the shattering of ice.

And then was the ring of metal, the folding right next to her ear.

And then the ice cold tip of Crescent Rose was no longer in the ground in front of her, trapped by a prison of ice.

It was hooked around her neck, and that was that.

What annoyed her most was the fact that she could literally hear Ruby's stupid smirk even though she hadn't made a sound or even looked at her.

After several deep breaths, Ruby nudged the scythe a bit, and whispered into Weiss' ear, in a tone completely unlike Ruby's own, were the three simple words, "I win, princess."

Weiss fell to the ground, clutching her winded stomach, trying to get as much air into her body as was physically possible. She didn't dare to even look at her scroll to check their aura levels, because she knew they were well beyond empty. They had pushed themselves to the limit, to their absolute maximum, and it had felt  _so_ good.

She didn't even spare a thought as to how Ruby got behind her in the end, because she was just so tired, she wanted to fall into bed and do nothing for the rest of the day. Perhaps even sleep in and have breakfast in bed. Her muscles ached so badly, her entire body felt like it was as hot as her own red dust which she had used earlier, but it had been worth it. It wasn't often that Weiss would willingly admit that going all out for a simple spar was as worth or as fulfilling.

Ruby was just as exhausted, but she spared a look at her scroll to see their aura levels. The display read  _"Ruby Rose - 0.5% Weiss Schnee 0.3%"._ Ruby's mind went almost blank at seeing the exhaustion of both their auras.  _This was much more than just a spar. It was a battle of life and death. Any more combat and we'd be hurting ourselves._  Ruby's eyes widened in an unforeseen fear. She never thought she could deplete that much of her aura.

She then turned around to where Yang and her father were, but instead, she noticed a certain twin-ponytailed white haired girl smiling widely and clapping. Ruby's knees shook, though she couldn't tell if it was because of fatigue or the attention she was receiving from the younger Schnee. When Winter winked at her in a similar way as Ruby did before, the team RWBY leader only managed a weak smile before her vision turned black and her legs gave way. The last thing Ruby heard was Yang's distraught cry, calling Ruby's name.

Winter was the first one to her side, in a mad dash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EPIC FIGHT! Thanks to JackThePegasus for his amazing fight choreography (and some other bits and pieces of the chapter, of course). Tell us what you think, and as always, thank you for reading and following this story!


	6. Chapter 6

Yang sat by Ruby's bed, watching the unconscious girl in fear. Next to that bed was the one containing barely awake Weiss, who was also looking at her partner's bed incredulously. Blake stood a little farther away, leaning on the wall, knowing she couldn't do anything about Ruby. She was deep in thought. She just couldn't understand why Ruby lost consciousness. She knew for a fact that Weiss had less aura remaining, yet the heiress seemed to be less exhausted. She was super tired, yes. But for some reason it only took her half a day to regenerate while Ruby was out for the whole day and still sleeping. Looking at Ruby's aura levels was actually worrying.

From time to time, Ruby would seem like she was stirring, but it was apparently only an involuntary tic. Every time it happened, the three girls perked up a bit, especially Weiss, who felt a little guilty for Ruby's situation. Yet all Ruby did was move an arm or turned her head from one side to the other.

Yang was worried out of her mind at her sister's condition. She was also angry at herself because she couldn't help, something she swore to Ruby when they were still kids.

Then something different happened. Ruby let out a noise, barely audible, but loud enough. It was visible that she was struggling to open her eyes. Yang grabbed her hand, not even noticing that Weiss did the same to Ruby's other hand. Finally, team RWBY leader's eyes fluttered open.

Weiss found Ruby's aimless looking around very cute and she tried to stifle a blush, but probably failed at it.

"Weiss? Why are you blushing?" It was Yang.

"What? I… I don't…"

"Weiss! Yang! Heeey!", Ruby cheered as if nothing happened to her, still oblivious to her surroundings. She tried to jump up and pull the two girls next to her bed into an embrace. Something must have felt wrong, though, as she didn't make the whole action and lay down on her bed, cringing slightly.

"Sis? What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just a bit dizzy."

"It's okay. You're awake, that's what's important."

"Wait, why wouldn't I be awake?" Ruby looked at Yang with confused eyes. Weiss started explaining.

"Ruby, you remember how we had a spar yesterday?" After Ruby nodded, the story continued. "Well, we gave it our all. In the end, I could barely breathe, that's how exhausted I was. But you simply fell to the ground, unconscious. After seeing that, I fell down too. Then I woke up in here, next to you."

Ruby looked scared now. "Am I okay?"

"Well, your aura levels are still relatively low," Weiss said. "You might want to work on aura replenishment after you're released, or else you won't be able to place well in the Vytal Festival tournament."

Blake watched the commotion from her position by the wall.  _I can't help much here. Except maybe…_ She stealthily left the room, leaving the trio to their own devices.

She went to the lobby, where she knew Mrs Schnee and Winter were. If nothing else, they'd probably want to see Weiss, though Blake didn't have the slightest doubt that at least Winter would be more interested in the news that Ruby has finally woken up.

She found the duo in the hospital cafeteria, sipping tea like the proper aristocrats. Mrs Schnee noticed her first.

"Miss Belladonna, good to see you. Would you join us for tea?"

Blake went to the table and sat down. "Thank you very much, Mrs Schnee, but I came here to tell you that both girls are awake now." Blake didn't miss Winter's subtle perking up the moment she heard that.

"So Ruby's okay?", Winter said with a voice too innocent for her, considering her demeanour towards everyone up to that point. Blake actually tilted her head to the side at the voice. Winter must have noticed that. "I just… I'm not used to people losing consciousness, okay?"

 _Sure you aren't,_  Blake mused. "Yes, Ruby will be fine. All she has to do now is regain her aura and she'll be in top notch form again." Winter had a smile on her face. Blake waited for a moment as she wanted to see how far Winter would go with her worry for Ruby. She saw her fidgeting as if she wanted to ask something, but wasn't quite sure of it.

"Dear, are you okay?", Mrs Schnee asked, noticing Winter's fidgeting.

"Umm… Yes, Mother. I'm fine. I… I was just wondering…"

"Yes?"

Winter looked Blake straight into the eye and Blake saw the yearning in those icy blue orbs. "C-Could we visit R- I mean, them?"

Blake smiled slightly. "Of course you can. That was why I got here in the first place. To tell you you can visit if you want." Winter's face brightened up. Blake stood up. "So, ladies, I'll be going back up now. If you feel like coming, you're free to do so."  _One should never forget respect when talking to these people._ She then curtsied and started walking away.

"Wait, Miss… Can I just call you Blake?"

Blake turned around, Watching Winter with an amused smile on her face.  _She has apparently come to her senses with her feelings. Good that she isn't trying to hide it too much._  "Of course you can call me Blake."

"So, Blake… Can I go with you?"  _What a hopeful look. Almost as if I was some kind of her saviour or whatever._   _When she isn't icy, she is actually a very beautiful girl._

"Come on, then." Winter quickly said farewell to Mrs Schnee and then the two girls started walking. Blake watched Winter from the side the whole way up, sizing her up and reading her gestures and posture. The posture was back to her sassy roots, but her face said so many conflicting things. Blake decided not to pry. It was not a smart idea to pry at Weiss and they were friends. Or at least, Blake hoped so. Anyway, it would be even worse if she tried to do something like that to a sassy younger sister of said friend.

Blake opened the door to Weiss' and Ruby's room and held them open for Winter, who hurried in. Weiss noticed her first.

"Hey, Winter." Winter just nodded and looked at Ruby's bed. When she looked at aura metre, everyone could see that she held her breath for a moment.

"So… Ruby," she started with a friendly voice. "How are you?" There was a hint of concern present there, too, everyone heard it. Unsurprisingly, everyone but Blake reacted as expected.

"Umm… I'm fine, I guess." It seemed to Blake that Ruby got a bit happier just seeing Winter. That brought a smirk on her face.

Winter realized that she might be showing a little too much affection to someone she barely knew, so she shook her head slightly. "So, when are the two of you being released?"

"I'll probably be out by evening," Weiss said. "As for Ruby, she might need another day, just to allow for her aura to fully replenish." Winter did flash a smile for a second, hoping for it to be invisible.  _Then maybe I can visit her tomorrow and she'll be alone. Yes, I'm alright with that._

"Great news! Glad you're not seriously hurt!"

Weiss eyed her sister, as if looking for signs of ulterior motives, but couldn't find any.  _Why is she acting so weird, then?_  She decided to let it slide.  _It can't mean anything. Maybe she finally realized she's only a human._

* * *

The next day Ruby was alone in her hospital room, waiting for her aura to fill up so she could finally be released. She hated nothing more than being useless and unable to do anything but wait. A hyperactive person like her had to keep herself busy with something, and lying in bed wasn't what she would call being busy. The day before, after her visitors left, at least she still had Weiss to talk to, if only for a while. Weiss was released in the evening, just like she thought she'd be, which left Ruby helplessly alone again, after they had shared their goodbyes.

There was a knock on her door that woke her up from her misery. "Come in," she said loudly enough for the person outside to hear, but not loud enough to yell. The door opened and in walked the twin ponytailed, white haired beauty that called herself Winter. Ruby's mouth widened into a smile without her urging to do so. Winter offered her a smile of her own.

"Hello," Ruby greeted the newcomer, cheerfully as always, and just a bit nervously.

"Hi. I thought you might feel lonely here without your teammates, so I thought that maybe I can keep you company."

Ruby's throat dried. "W-Well, I'm glad anyone has t-thought of that. Umm, come c-closer?"

Winter got closer and pulled a chair next to Ruby's bed. "How's your aura?"

"Umm… I guess it's doing fine. It's just not at full yet. Should be by evening, though."

"So, you won't have any lasting consequences or anything?" It was clear that Winter didn't have that much knowledge on topics such as this one - Ruby was fairly sure she didn't attend a combat school.  _That's a real shame. She'd probably make a good huntress. And a good looking one at that._

"I shouldn't. Aura doesn't work that way. I mean, yes, once it's depleted our bodies start to take the punishment, but otherwise it doesn't do anything like that."

Winter was visibly relieved at those words. A long, content sigh left her mouth. "Good to hear." Her voice was almost soft. "It would be a shame if you'd get too hurt. You want to participate in the tournament, don't you?", Winter quickly added the last sentence, just to erase any kind of hints at something else.

"Winning the tournament is my dream. Well, one of them. But I do think that this… Setback… Didn't help my chances." There was a faint presence of bitterness in Ruby's voice.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine. Even if you don't win, you still have chances in the future, don't you?"

Ruby sighed. "I do. I have three more chances. But still, you know? It feels wrong that I exhausted myself this much in a simple sparring. How will I fare in the tournament or real fights if a simple spar can take so much out of me?"

"If that was a simple spar, Ruby," Winter spoke with a proud voice, "I feel bad for both your opponents, and Weiss'. You two nearly wrecked the park!"

Ruby looked at Winter incredulously. "We did?"

"You don't remember?"

"I lost consciousness, Win… Wait, can I call you Winter?" The younger Schnee daughter nodded. "Thank you. So, I lost consciousness, Winter, so I didn't have much of a chance to see the alleged devastation. And I don't usually look at the damage I cause while fighting. It's not very good for keeping your head in the game."

Winter nodded. "I guess you're right. Well, it was nice talking to you, Ruby. But now I have to go."

"Don't worry, I'm glad you came here in the first place. I'd think Weiss would come see if I was okay, what with her being my partner and all."

"Maybe she just knows you're gonna be fine," Winter offered. "Maybe you can communicate differently because you're partners. Don't you develop some kind of a special bond with your partner?"

"Well, maybe she knows I'll be fine. But I'm still bored here alone, you know? Anyway, don't worry about me. If you have to go, do it. No hard feelings."

"Yes, Ruby. I have to go. Hope you get out of here before the day is done."

"Thanks, Winter."

"Goodbye." With that, Winter turned around and went to the door, when she remembered something.

She turned back around. "Ruby, can I ask you something?"

Ruby looked at her, slightly befuddled and a little scared of the question. "Uhh, sure."

Winter then returned to Ruby's bed and knelt so she was looking at Ruby face to face. She then spoke, silently. "Ruby, would you mind if we… Meet again sometime?"

"You mean, like, alone?" Ruby was slightly scared. She wanted for this to be true, but on the other hand she was slightly afraid it was a ruse to expose her. She wasn't sure to whom exactly, but she was scared of it nonetheless.

"Yeah, like alone. Maybe go for a drink or something."

"Like a date?"  _Ruby, for Dust's sake! Stop walking on the knife's edge!_

Winter stared at Ruby for a moment, slightly perplexed. "Yes," she finally breathed out. "Like a date. If you want, of course."

Ruby could barely believe her ears.  _This beauty is actually asking me out?_  "S-Sure," she managed to say. Then she saw Winter's happy smile and for a moment it felt like there were only the two of them in the world.

"I'll give you a call, then. See you around. Oh, and don't tell Weiss, please. Not yet." With that, Winter left the room and Ruby was alone again. Alone and bored, but at least now she was bored with a smile on her face.

Two hours later, Ruby was released from the hospital.

* * *

Weiss, Yang and Blake were on their beds, reading or otherwise killing time. Yang was throwing a ball at the ceiling, Blake was busy reading one of her books and Weiss was just lying there, hands behind her head, staring at the rope-supported bed above her, hoping that her leader would come soon.

_I honestly don't know how I feel about Ruby - it's like, I just can't put it into words. She isn't just a leader, she's a good friend, a really good friend… somebody who cares…_

A small knock came from the door. With a groan, Yang got up and headed to the door. "I swear to god, if it's Jaune again asking if Ruby is alright, I'll knock him to the floor. He's asked about seven times in the last ten minu-"

Before the blonde could even finish her sentence, not looking at the door she just opened, she was tackled full-force by a blur of red rose-petals from through the door. With an 'oof', the two girls fell to the floor, and the red blur was identified as Ruby.

"Yaaaaang!"

"Ruby!"

Blake swore she heard Nora yell "Nora!" from somewhere inside team JNPR's dorm.

"OhmygodYangi'venevermissedyousomuchIwassobooooored!"

"Woah, woah, woah. Take it easy there, one step at a time."

The redhead sat on the floor in front of Yang as she proceeded to explain herself.

"Well, uh, for starters, they released me," Ruby said, gesturing to her own body as if it was obvious, "and oh my  _gosh_ I have never been so bored in my whole life.  _Ever._ There was literally nobody to talk to."

"Huh. Welp, it's a good thing you're back in action then!" said Yang, who then knelt over Ruby predatorily. "And there's a little something that I've been wanting to do for a while…" Yang was now licking her lips. Ruby was sweating buckets. Blake was suddenly far more interested. "...You know what I mean, don't you?"

The small girl in red nodded.

"You have five seconds to run."

She  _sprinted_ out of the dorm.

" _FOUR!_ " Yang shouted through the corridor, before closing the door and heading back inside. Blake was the first one to pipe up after raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, Yang, care to explain what that was?"

"Well dear Blakey. Since we've gotten to Beacon, I've neglected Ruby her regular tickle-fights. She always loses, and that's why she's terrified of me. I'm not actually going to chase her, perhaps the run will do her some good." Yang smirked and flopped back into bed before resuming whatever she was doing on her scroll before.

Blake looked at her incredulously. "Seriously? Fresh out of hospital, and you made her sprint what could easily be all the way across the campus because of a tickle fight that won't happen?"

"Yes it will. Watch me. I'll ambush her at some point soon, and it'll be the battle of her life. Or, it probably would be. Not after Ruby and Weiss' spar the other day. Hey, Ice Queen, you feeling alright? Now that I think about it, you kind of got ignored."

Weiss perked up a little bit. "Hm, what? What were we saying?"

_Ten lien says she was thinking about Ruby._

"About you," Yang said, "We were all worried about Ruby even though you were the one who took the most damage. How ya feelin', Weiss?"

"I'd feel even better than I do right not if you all stopped calling me Ice Queen."

"You enjoy it, you just don't say so."

"Don't make me come over there."

Just as Yang was about to respond with some - in her mind, at least - witty comeback, someone was at the door again. It was a louder knock than Ruby's, and chances were that the redhead was still somewhere across the other side of the school. "Blake," she said, "Be a darling and get the door for me, please?"

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

" _Darling?_ " Blake was now slipping into her glare.

The muffled voice on the other side of the door could suddenly be heard, and both heads turned towards it. "Yang? You in there, darling?"

Blake doubled over in laughter, as Yang's expression fell. It looked like she had lost all the will to live. "Was that Taiyang?"

Kicking open the door after moping towards it, Yang slammed the side of her fist into her father's neck, grabbing his collar, and pushed him outside before closing the door again.

"Dad," she began, "for the love of Oum  _NEVER_ call me 'darling' in front of Blake again, please? I have a dignity to uphold here.

"Oh, I forgot my girl is all grown up now. Sorry, darling, I won't do that anymore," Taiyang said with a wicked grin.

"Dad, just… Okay?"

Taiyang then did something Yang didn't expect him to do. His expression fell for a moment and then he spread his arms to embrace Yang. Yang's eyes widened when her body pressed against her father's.

"I'm sorry, Yang. I just… I forgot how dangerous a life of a hunter is. When Ruby lost consciousness, I was so scared."

Yang was speechless at this outpour of emotion. She struggled to even say a single word. "Dad… I…"

"Just promise me, Yang." Taiyang let her go and looked straight in her eye. "Promise me you two will keep an eye on each other. I can't lose you like I lost your mothers. Please."

Now it was Yang who initiated the embrace. "Dad, I swear nothing bad will happen to us. I will watch over her like I did up to now. I promise. Besides - if anything bad had actually happened to Ruby, I woulda kicked Weiss' ass."

Taiyang smiled. "There's the Yang I know and love. Anyway, I saw Ruby sprinting across the school not long ago, and she looked terrified. She didn't even see me - I came to you to see if anything was wrong."

"Haha… Eh… Err…"

"Yang?"

"Well. You see, uh, I  _might_ have gotten a bit excited when she finally got back…"

"... And?"

"... I may or may not have challenged her to a tickle-fight."

Taiyang was frozen for a moment, processing the information. In that time, Yang's brain had rifled through all the possible outcomes, but definitely fearing the "Dad is pissed" outcome the most. Taiyang was a scary man when angry, very scary. His booming voice would shake the ground, his face would be fear-induction reincarnated as a facial expression, and the way he would stomp and slam doors was down-right terrifying.

Fortunately, this wasn't the case, as his face very quickly lightened up, before turning into a massive grin, and then a snort. Then he was doubled over. He was laughing. Yang didn't even know what to do at this point.

"Dad? Why are you…" She was watching in disbelief.

"Oh, it's nothing," Taiyang managed to say through tears. Then he stood up. "I just forgot how bad Ruby was at tickle fights you two had. That explains her fear. Yang Xiao Long, you're evil, but you're exactly what Ruby needs. Now I know she's in competent hands. Thank you, Yang."

Yang had a nervous smile on her face. "Uh… You're welcome?" Taiyang then mussed her hair, knowing full well Yang would kill anyone who dared something like that. Anyone except Taiyang and Ruby, of course.

* * *

Ruby returned to her dorm room about an hour later with a triumphant grin on her face. She opened team RWBY door and stepped in with her head held high. "You thought you can find me, Yang Xiao Long, but I managed to hide from your grasp well enough…" She stopped talking when she saw that there was only one person in the room and that was Weiss. "Um… Where are Yang and Blake, Weiss?"

Weiss huffed slightly. "Not even a 'hello' and she expects me to talk."

"Sorry, Weiss! I didn't mean to…" Ruby stopped. "How are you, Weiss? I missed my partner!" She then went towards Weiss with arms spread in a tentative embrace. She inched ever closer and closer and put on her puppy eyes.

"Ruby, you dolt! Stop with that cute, adorable face!" But Ruby didn't stop. She got closer and closer and Weiss finally gave in. "Oh, okay! Just lose that look. I missed you too." She pressed into Ruby's embrace a little more than usual to inhale her rosy scent.

"So, where are the other two?"

"Oh, they went looking for you."

"So Yang lied to me? She didn't actually…"

"Yes. She told us she just wanted to have some fun."

"Well then, I have to tell them I'm here."

"Wait a minute, Ruby. They can wait a little. I need to talk to you." Weiss' voice was slightly shaking.

Ruby eyed her partner curiously. "Weiss, it wasn't your fault I dropped."

"Eh, it's not that. I mean, I could say sorry for that, but just in case you forgot, I dropped too."

"What is it then?"

Weiss was nervous. Way too nervous. She couldn't help herself, though. She wanted to make her feelings clear, but at the same time didn't want to sound too weak.  _But how do I tell her the change I went through in our relationship, and how will she react? Will she return the feelings? Will she cast me away? Anything but that, please._  She took another deep breath before sitting down on her bed.

"Ruby, I… Realized something these last few weeks. We started off pretty rough, and I'm sure you won't forget that. But you kept wanting to bring me in. Thank you for that."

Ruby had a smile on her face. "Weiss. It was my duty as a leader. And I also wanted to make a friend."

"Yes. I know. But still, I was the stuck up Ice Queen. I guess that nickname does describe me. But, I have to admit, Ruby, you melted my heart. You are a seriously incredible person. I wish I had seen that sooner."

Ruby sat down next to Weiss and put a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Weiss, I'm flattered."

Weiss had trouble breathing normally at this point.  _Come on, don't be a pansy, Weiss. Just ask already._  "Ruby, I… Um… Would you…"  _Get yourself together, Weiss! You're a Schnee!_  Another deep breath.  _This is it._ "Would you go on a date with me, Ruby?"

Ruby's eyes widened in surprise at the question.  _I can't believe it. Both of them? But… How? I can't say no, but if I say yes, it's… This is way too difficult. Whatever I say won't be right._  Ruby was conflicted as never before at that point. There was no dilemma in her mind. The answer was yes, but she was afraid anyway. How would she keep it a secret from Winter? More importantly, how will she keep her relationship with Winter a secret from Weiss?

As Ruby was thinking over this, all Weiss saw was a perplexed and surprised Ruby.  _Oh, Dust, no!_  "Ruby… I'm sorry… Forget about it…" Weiss was ready to start crying.

"I accept, Weiss."

"You what?"

Ruby took Weiss' hand in hers and looked Weiss in the eye. "I accept your offer." Ruby smiled, but her mind was a mess.  _By Oum, what did I get myself into?_

"Oh, and please, don't tell Winter. Yet."  _Oh, Dust._


	7. Chapter 7

Despite having basically fully recovered from her spar with Weiss, Ruby was told by the doctors that she should lay off the intense training of theirs for a while, as to avoid any damage to parts of her that may be a bit tenderer. This, of course, saddened the redhead, but in the time she was given off she found ways to make good use of it.

First and foremost was Crescent Rose's monthly disassembly. This was a fairly long process, even for her, despite knowing the weapon inside and out. She had pushed the weapon to its limits in the battle, as well as herself, so she needed to give the scythe a proper seeing to, to make sure that nothing was broken or faulty.

Making her way down to the workshop, Ruby had time to think about how she felt about Weiss and Winter. She was dating both of them, and that put her between a rock and a hard place, and she didn't want either. It was extremely lucky or extremely unlucky that both girls had asked her out on a date, and Ruby wasn't sure which it was. A curse in the guise of a blessing.

As if all that wasn't enough, this was Ruby's first relationship, if she were to call it that way. Her first time dating, and already it was with not just one, but  _both_  Schnee daughters at once! Both were stunningly beautiful and Ruby knew that, given the choice, she wouldn't be able to choose only one of them. She was a real sweetheart, not wanting to hurt anybody. She recalled that someone once told her that if she wouldn't hurt anybody, she'd be the only one hurt in the end. And that was what was scaring her senseless. She didn't want to lose either of them, but she also knew she would not be able to hide it forever.

What would happen once one found out about the other? Ruby held no belief she'd be able to keep dating both Schnees a secret. And once that would happen? Would they both abandon her? Ruby hoped that wouldn't happen. Secretly, she hoped she could have both of them, but she knew that was not possible. It made her sad and she quickened up her pace to get to the workshop as quickly as possible, to take her mind off the Schnees.

Arriving at the workshop, with Crescent Rose, she set about finding herself a place to set up shop and begin the lengthy process of completely servicing the weapon. She'd need a large table, with space for the six foot long weapon, four foot wide scythe head and somewhere to put all of the individual components, too.

Finding a table with the requirements wasn't too difficult, as Beacon recognised that some students were inclined to use larger weapons, such as Nora's Magnhild and Ruby's Crescent Rose, and so there were a couple of large workshop tables which provided plenty of space. Setting the sniper-scythe down, Ruby went off to go and find some tools in order to disassemble every part, and to retrieve the special polish she kept hidden behind the cupboard. Gathering all of the necessities, Ruby then pulled up a stool and got to work.

First she detached the head of the scythe with the large hinge that allowed the blade head to reflex, and angle, and pivot, and do basically anything that normal scythes couldn't. Several small bolts and a much larger one later, the head was detached from the shaft. She took a moment to admire the large scythe part of the sniper-scythe in all of its glory - the curve of the blade, the segmentation of the steel, and the wickedly sharp edge of the blunt end.

Refocusing on the task at hand, she then put the sniper rifle shaft to one side and began disassembling the head of the scythe. First came unscrewing the segmented blades that formed the actual cutting head itself, and then she disconnected all of the parts of the supporting and folding backbone of said blade. It was a marvellous piece of engineering, if she did say so herself. Her uncle Qrow helped her construct the scythe at a younger age, and each little nook and cranny provided some kind of benefit to the weapon. Even the tiniest dents served some purpose.

Detaching the shaft connected from the backbone of the blade, Ruby then took apart the blunt end of the scythe and the very tip of it. All in all, there were exactly sixty two parts in front of her, including the many screws and ingenious locking systems that helped the intricate scythe unfold. The scythe head itself was actually only made up of about twenty five or thirty parts.

Ordering each part nicely, Ruby then turned her attention to the sniper rifle segment. Without the scythe head and a big, blocky compensator, the barrel of the sniper rifle was quite a terrific sight to see. The sturdy construction of the weapon of course made it huge, but it was also incredibly strong. The outer barrel was painted a dark black colour, and the inner barrel itself had curved grooves carved into it to keep the heavy calibre rounds flying dead straight. It could actually be extended, and it when the scythe head was attached this was the case, which made the weapon so big. It was also considerably lighter without the scythe head.

The extending and folding stock wasn't really used all that often, as it was much easier to simply unfold the scythe and throw its tip into the ground if precision was really that necessary. This kept it perfectly stable and gave no recoil from the shots. The pistol grip could be folded into the shaft and sniper rifle, exposing only the trigger itself and making handling the weapon a whole lot more ergonomical when wielding it with deft moves as a large scythe.

Red in colour, the casing itself hid a highly advanced firing mechanism, which was bolt-action and catered for the extremely heavy calibre which she was using. More often than not, the twenty millimetre ammunition would be found on aircraft and it was capable of tearing anything to the ground in seconds. This is what gave the sniper rifle such a huge amount of recoil, and kick when firing, and was what allowed her to literally tear Grimm in half with a single shot. Maybe one day, when technology advanced even further, she could be able to make a semi-automatic firing mechanism that was still convenient and practical to use, but bolt action would more than do for now.

Disassembling the sniper rifle itself was fun. First, off came the stock and butt of the gun, which unlike most assault rifle style weapons didn't actually contain any important parts, and then the scope was unscrewed from its rotating mount, the large locking mechanism near the front end of the casing was unbolted and then the outer barrel was slid off. Picking apart every single tiny detail of the firing mechanism, Ruby was entranced by her weapon, and before she knew it, everything was disassembled in front of her - all three hundred and thirty two parts, in total. The trigger mechanism made up nearly fifty of those parts alone. It wasn't long before she grabbed a rag and polish before she began to clean every single part.

Letting her mind wander while she worked, she must have missed the people coming in and out of the workshop, and also lost track of the time - it was now a good three hours later, and all the parts seemed to be clean. She held the inner barrel up to a light to make certain, and sure enough, it gleamed like it was brand new. Confident that she had given the weapon a full servicing, she then took upon herself her favourite task of all - reassembly.

Putting Crescent Rose together again was her favourite part, simply because it made her feel like it was her first time doing it once again, despite moving swiftly through muscle memory to put the whole thing back together. First up was the sniper rifle, and putting everything back into place, reattaching the stock, sliding over the outer barrel and screwing the scythe-folding locking mechanism back onto said outer barrel took less than seven minutes. Then came the scythe head - every polished piece of metal was carefully screwed and bolted together, making sure that the hinges and pivots functioned properly, lest the weapon fall apart in combat.

Knowing full well that she had done it perfectly as per usual, all that was left was to attach the scythe head and slide on the huge blocky compensator and the thing would be complete. This too went without a hitch, and soon enough, she was staring at her newly serviced Crescent Rose, functioning better than ever. Grabbing a magazine from her waist from the two she often kept there, she was about to head out to the testing range to ensure that the firing mechanism had all been assembled properly when she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Having had headphones on for most of the process - especially the sharpening of the segmented blades - she had entirely missed the fact that Weiss' sister Winter was stood right behind her, staring at the large scythe in awe.

"W-Winter! H-How long have you b-been there?"

Winter's dreamy blue eyes kept going up and down the scythe and the scythe wielder. She answered with her usual voice. "Oh, you know, a while. I was wondering how you're doing. If we are going to get serious with this dating thing, we'll have to see each other more often, right?"

Ruby scratched the back of her head while sporting a blush. "I guess you're right."

"I didn't want to say anything because you looked so peaceful putting that thing together."

"Hehe… Yeah… I get pretty invested when I put this thing back together."

Winter shifted all of her weight onto one leg, put her hand on her hip, and resumed her normal sassy personality. "You really love this scythe of yours, don't you?"

Holding it in both arms like it was a precious thing that needed to be protected, and - was she  _stroking_ it? It was still unfolded, in all its scythe glory. Winter couldn't help but wonder just how heavy the weapon was.

"Yeah. My uncle helped me make it, and as soon as I started learning how to use a scythe, I knew it was the weapon for me," Ruby explained. That seemed logical enough to Winter.

"...How heavy is that thing?" Winter asked this for two reasons. One, she was genuinely interested to see how much the weapon weighed. Two, if it did weigh a lot and she was constantly swinging it around like it was nothing, then her muscles  _must_ have had some kind of definition to them.  _Oh my, what if she has a six-pack?_

"It's quite heavy. Like, not super heavy, but it definitely weighs more than all of my teammate's weapons put together."  _So it's pretty heavy. That's step one._ "Here - you can hold it if you want."

Ruby carefully handed Crescent Rose over to Winter, still unfolded.  _What if I chop my arm off with it, or something?_ She lay the weapon in her hands before looking up and asking for confirmation that she was ready to take the weight. Winter nodded in response, and suddenly the whole weight of the weapon was in her hands.

It weighed a  _ton._

"Agh - it's not super heavy? A-are you sure? This thing is way too heavy!"

Ruby giggled at the sight of Winter trying to hold the scythe properly. She looked good with it. Obviously she wasn't the huntress type, and that might have also been the reason she found the scythe so heavy. "Eh, I'm used to lifting it up and swinging it around. Trust me, I found it really heavy the first time I picked it up too. But yeah, you get used to it."

This girl was insane. What other fifteen year olds did Winter know that went to the very best school for warriors, wielded a sniper-rifle scythe combination which weighed a  _ton_ and killed monsters for a living?

None. That was for sure. But that was what she found intriguing about her, what made her want to get to know Ruby better.

"Y-you can have it back now," Winter said, breathing a sigh of relief as her arms were removed of the absurd weight of the scythe, dumping it into Ruby's waiting arms. The girl laughed. "Heh, it would be even heavier if I made it out of proper metals, rather than these super-light alloys. It's why I can swing it so quickly."

Winter was glad that it  _wasn't_ heavier.

"Do you have to be strong to swing it around and carry it everywhere?"

Ruby looked like she'd never been asked this question before. "Huh, I never really thought about that. I mean yeah, I'm a huntress, so I guess I must be pretty strong anyway? I fell down a hole on a trip to Mountain Glenn, and Blake brought my scythe back, she didn't seem to struggle with it that much while she was holding it. She did breathe heavily after she let go though, so… I'm not sure."

Listening to the girl ramble on was rather enjoyable, Winter found. She could just sit there in a room with the little reaper and listen to her talk for an entire day without stopping, and it would be great. What was Winter going to ask the girl next?  _Wait, yeah, ask if she has abs. It won't be weird, right?_

"So uh... From lifting that much weight… Do you have… Like, you know, abs and stuff?"

Ruby's light blush instantly intensified to a deep crimson. She stuttered slightly, and seemed to have wide eyes. "Oh - uh, I didn't mean to upset you! Please, I'm sor-"

"Nah, it's, uh, fine, I guess," said Ruby who seemed to have regained her composure, "I mean I think I sort of do… they're not like Yang's though. They're just sort of there and I don't really mind them."

"Could I... You know…"

Her blush went even deeper. Even Winter was blushing at this point.

"I'd have to get changed though… Because, I uh, have my corset on and it takes forever to take on and off on a whim…"

Winter was happy with that. "Sure. Okay. Maybe you could show me later if you're really fine with it." The two were definitely getting closer now, so close in fact that Winter had nearly forgotten why she went out to go and find Ruby in the first place.

"Oh yeah! Ruby, your team says that there's a speech or something going on later, and they'll all be going to it, so I imagine that you need to, too." She smiled at the younger girl.

"That's gonna be Ozpin's speech, right? For the Vytal festival? Yeah, that's the start of it. We should really get going and make sure we don't miss it."

The two girls began walking out of the workshop, and into the grounds. As usual, it was a nice summer's day, and a light breeze was playing with the ends of Ruby's skirt and Winter's ponytails. The dorms were all the way across the grounds from the small and honestly rather forgotten workshop, and so the walk would take a couple of minutes.

"Winter," Ruby asked, garnering the other girl's attention, "What was it like to live with Weiss as kids? Like, was she like she is now?"

Winter had to stop and think about this for a while. The two sisters certainly weren't on the best of terms, having had a bit of an argument before Weiss left for Beacon but deep down they both knew that neither one wanted to back down and apologize. "It was… nice, I guess? She was an okay sister, we played together sometimes, did normal stuff, but we didn't have many friends, so it was just me and her. I guess that's what happens when you get cut off from basically everyone else because of your parents."

Ruby felt sort of the same way about Yang. Patch didn't have a huge population, but Yang had managed to make friends regardless. Ruby on the other hand was a total introvert, and hated speaking to new people when she was younger. She didn't really have many friends of her own and so she just stuck around Yang most of the time, especially when her father was all broken up over her mother's death.

"So she wasn't that different to how she is now?" Winter shook her head. As the two girls continued their walk, their hands brushed together by accident. The two girls looked at each other, just slightly embarrassed. Winter then took the lead and confidently put her hand in Ruby's, sending her a confident look. Their eyes met for a long moment, Winter getting lost in the silver eyes and Ruby getting lost in the blue ones. Then Ruby widened her mouth in a cute smile before squeezing the hand gently. Winter quickly took the hand away and Ruby was sad for a moment before realizing that nobody could see them holding hands.

The duo, after "accidentally" brushing their hands against each other a few more times, eventually arrived at the scene of Ozpin's speech. They were right on time as they squeezed through the crowd to the front, where the rest of team RWBY was.

"Where have you been for so long?" was Weiss' immediate question.

"I-I took longer than I thought w-with cleaning Crescent Rose."

Weiss eyed Ruby suspiciously, but did not press the matter. Professor Ozpin started talking with his soothing voice.

"Welcome to Beacon, students of Mistral, Atlas and Vacuo, and a hearty welcome to our home students as well. The Vytal Festival, the symbol of solidarity between the people of Remnant and a symbol of peace and prosperity, is about to begin. There will be many duels, as most of you already know. I hope you will all show your absolute best in the tournament…"

Ozpin kept on talking, but Winter didn't listen to him. Not only did it not concern her since she wasn't participating, but she was busy with checking Ruby out. She took in her shape, imagining the well toned abs on her belly.  _Abs that she promised to show me._

Weiss couldn't help but look at Ruby, either. Ozpin's speech was lost on her as she was busy ogling her partner. She also noticed Winter looking at Ruby a few times.  _She wouldn't dare, though, right? Ruby's mine and mine only._  She definitely wasn't going to allow anyone,  _especially_  Winter, to try and take Ruby away from her.

* * *

"The first match of the tournament will start now. We have determined that the two combatants will be Jaune Arc, leader of team JNPR, and Fox Alistair from team CFVY!", Miss Goodwitch said over the speakers when Professor Ozpin was done with his speech.

"And… Begin!"

The signal of the referee began the match, and Fox was already heading straight towards Jaune. The blonde raised his shield and charged towards Fox in a similar way, and quickly avoided the first strike of the elbow-blades that he used, aimed at his head. Having ducked to the left, he brought his sword arm up to the right in a diagonal slash in an attempt to deal some damage but he hit nothing but thin air.

Sidestepping around Jaune, Fox made his next move to the recovering knight. Angling his right arm blade forward, he leaped towards the other boy and watched as he brought up his shield to block the strike. This was exactly what he wanted him to do, as he was now focusing only on the blade currently against the shield, and in a quick spin, Fox brought his left elbow blade around and struck Jaune in the head.

Jaune shouted in pain as he was struck by the solid blade, and made a mental note of the fact that Fox was both quicker and stronger than he looked, even for a Hunter in training.

Getting back to his feet, Jaune met his opponent who was running towards him with his own shield again, and bashed away the blades. A swing to the left with Crocea Mors in his right hand was very nearly left unimpeded as Fox rolled backwards, knowing he wouldn't be able to deflect the attack fast enough.

Springing high up into the air, Fox took note of their position on the battlefield, and saw no environmental advantages he could use on the flat field which the qualifying rounds of the tournament were taking place on. The forest near the edge - completely burned down for some reason - was out of bounds for the fighters, and he would have to make do with the weapons on his arms.

Jaune backed off as the spinning attack delivered by Fox very nearly struck him, but almost fell over in surprise as the quick roll to his feet carried on towards Jaune with a blade pointed forward, aimed at his head. Barely blocking this attack too, Jaune knew he'd have to go on the offensive soon or he'd never have a chance.

Bringing the sword up in a vertical arc nearly worked, as Jaune found the awkward angle Fox had his blades positioned at made them not only very hard-hitting but also limited their range. Having his first attack blocked Jaune quickly swung his sword again at Fox in a more diagonal arc, and much to his surprise, actually hit Fox and knocked him to his feet.

_Attacks in quick succession are good. Awkward angles are good too._

It was barely a moment after Fox had gotten up that the blond knight was charging at him again. Sidestepping him, Fox managed to leap around to the boy's rear and deliver a somewhat hasty blow to his neck. Jaune cried out in pain as he stumbled, but was quick to deflect the second and third blows Fox delivered, outright blocking the fourth.

Finding his arms somewhat tiring, Fox was now put back onto the defensive as Jaune swung and swung at him with his sword, breaking through his defences once or twice, and lowering his aura by a fair amount. It wasn't looking good for the boy in red.

Pyrrha, stood on the outskirts of the field with many other spectators, was cheering Jaune on as he seemed to be gaining ground on his opponent, and then disaster struck.

What Jaune thought was a last ditch charge by Fox was met with his shield - and that's when Jaune found his shield met nothing as the boy and  _leaped_ over him in a well practiced backflip, and before Jaune knew it, the full force of both of his elbow blades came crashing down on him and knocked him to the floor, completely breathless and likely out of aura.

The referee blew his whistle, and walked between the boys shouting "And that's the match! Mr. Arc's aura has dropped into the red, below 10%, and that makes the victor Mr. Alistair!"

Jaune felt crushed - he had worked and trained so hard with Pyrrha, yet Fox had put him flat on his back and won the match. He was in over his head trying to participate in a tournament for real hunters in training, when all he had behind him was just a few weeks of swordplay with Pyrrha.

Weiss watched at Jaune lying on the floor and looking so sad at his defeat. As dense and pushy as he was towards her, Weiss didn't feel too much malice seeing him crushed like that. When she looked towards Ruby, she could just barely notice her sister giggling maniacally. Weiss' eyes widened at the sight.

"That's for calling me Snow Princess!" Winter said that out loud, but it was not really audible over the cheering of the crowd. Ruby and Weiss did hear it, though, and looked at her. Weiss seemed to be sporting a small grin on her face.  _Perhaps we can find some common ground anyway._ See, the two sister weren't on fantastic terms, but they certainly didn't despise each other either. It was more like a standoff, neither one wanting to back down, and clashing because of it.

Not too long later, Jaune had arrived and immediately Pyrrha was fussing over his bruises and scratches from the fight. It was an exchange of, "You're hurt!", "I'm fine," et cetera, et cetera. It was painfully clear to team RWBY just how highly the spartan thought of the knight, yet he was so oblivious to her clear advances it hurt just to watch. The two teams settled in and watched a few more matches, all declared by Ozpin himself, and before they knew it, the end of the day had arrived. None of team RWBY had gotten to fight yet, and if the remaining members of team JNPR had fought, then they probably missed it in their day dreaming.

Ruby, as per usual, was dreaming about the twenty-five millimetre sniper rifle she read about in her weekly weapons magazine a few days ago - the biggest calibre sniper rifle to be made functional and practical so far. It was  _huge,_ though, and the magazine only fit about three rounds in them, so reloading often was necessary. It simply wouldn't work with Crescent Rose, but for taking down Death Stalkers and Nevermores in just one or two shots? It'd be great at that.

Weiss was tearing herself apart over her situation with Winter. If she kept making subtle advances on her girlfriend, then Weiss would have to take charge of the situation and stop her before anything bad happened. It was her duty, really. Winter was really subtle when she was being flirty with Ruby, incredibly subtle in fact - Ruby didn't seem to react in the adorable blush that she always would, so she probably just didn't pick it up.

Blake was consumed by her current book, the sequel to the infamous Ninjas of Love. It didn't mean she didn't pick up her surroundings, though. Winter was very clearly making advances on Ruby, yet the reaper didn't seem to mind them, despite Weiss being head over heels for her as well. Blake didn't forget how Ruby acted when Winter first met the team. Blake didn't forget how Winter acted around Ruby from the moment they met. She had too much on her mind to really give it much thought, though.  _They will resolve it best between themselves._ She also wondered how long away their fights were, which would let them compete in the tournament. Blake  _might_ have also been checking Yang out - but only as a friend though, she swore.

Yang was busy sleeping. She was dreaming about how she trashed Junior's nightclub, and how so very much she'd love to do it again.

* * *

As it turned out, however, Ruby still had a couple of things to say to Winter as they were walking back to the dorms. It was fairly quiet, as most other people were going to eat dinner, and everybody was walking in comfortable silence. Ruby slowed down her pace just enough to start slightly lagging behind and discreetly motioned for Winter to slow down as well. Obviously very interested in what was about to transpire, Winter heeded the motion and as soon as she got to the back and were a fair few feet from the others, Ruby surprised her once again.

"What was that?"

"What was what, Ruby?", Winter asked innocently. She wasn't sure what Ruby was talking about.

"You know, when Jaune lost. You said he deserved it, and that was mean."

Winter's eyes darkened rather considerably as she said, "I haven't got any sympathy for people who shamelessly hit on me. He was just another one of those idiots, if you catch my drift."

Ruby sighed somewhat exasperatedly, and said "But Winter! You've only known him for, like, a day! Give him a chance at least, he isn't  _that_ bad..."

"Hm. Prove it."

"Well," Ruby said, gesturing with hands, "This guy Cardin was being a jerk to him -" Winter rolled her eyes, ready for a sob story, "- and you know what? After a bit of encouragement, he stood up for himself, and got him to stop bullying another girl too. He's not bad, really."

This is what Winter loved about Ruby, she was so helplessly innocent and willing to see the good in people, and one day it would get her in trouble. She was too kind and too unwilling to say anything bad for her own good.

"Well… I guess I could be a little kinder to him. But I'm not apologizing. He didn't hear me and he wasn't offended, so I don't need to apologise." Ruby's light frown seemed to clear up at this, and Ruby - after quickly checking that Weiss was  _very_ far ahead - gave Winter a small hug from the side and said "Thanks, Winter. You're the best girlfriend ever… Even if…"

"What was that?" Winter asked Ruby sincerely, "You mumbled to yourself and I couldn't hear you."

"I - uh…" she was scratching the back of her head again. A habit that Winter had found quite cute. "It's, uh, not that important?"

"Well, it had something to do with... Knees? Something like that?"

"Yeah. I. Uh. You're the best girlfriend ever," Ruby's tone quieting considerably, "evenifyoumakemykneesweak..."

Winter doubled over in laughter, barely managing to say, "Oh my, Ruby! You can't be s-serious, surely?"

The smaller girl's blush intensified. She didn't want to admit that she completely fell for Winter and that she  _might_ have wanted to be called Winter's own, but it was still partially the truth. Winter's voice, dripping with sassiness and posture verging on the very definition of flippancy, made Ruby feel weak inside. Ruby was much more bashful and refused to be outgoing, and that might have been why Winter asked  _her_  out before she asked Winter out. Perhaps she wanted a play-toy; a pet of sorts, sadistic as such a proposition sounded.

Ruby both did and didn't hope this was the case.


	8. Chapter 8

_Weiss was kissing her, and so was Winter, at the same time. This was not normal. What was even going on? She couldn't focus three feet in front of her… and her legs were swaying… maybe now was a good time for a nap._

When the delicate and ice cold fingers ran down the small of her back, Ruby jerked awake with a furious blush on her face and eyes wide with shock and surprise. She didn't even see who had startled her awake before she fell off of her bunk bed and onto the floor. With a loud  _thud_ she hit the floor and groaned - this wasn't the first time she'd fallen out of her bed by accident. But was it an accident? Someone had scared her, and she fell out of bed. Rolling over with another groan, she looked up with blurry vision and spotted a head of white hair.

A  _giggling_ head of white hair. Giggling at Ruby's own misfortune.

"Augh… Weiss, what happened?" she groaned, rubbing her forehead and sitting up. Ruby would be lying if she said she wasn't slightly dizzy at all. It wasn't a particularly pleasant starting your day by nearly knocking yourself out.

"Hahaha! Ahah… Haa... Oh, Ruby you lovable little dolt," Weiss managed to compose herself, "You never told me you were so sensitive to touches. I'm sorry - heh - I really am… I swear…"

With an uncharacteristically sheepish grin, Weiss rubbed the back of her head and helped Ruby up with one hand, placing a quick kiss on her forehead. "Oh yeah - you were blushing. Ruby, why in the name of Remnant were you blushing?" Weiss was now interrogating the young girl, and this was territory that the heiress was definitely not allowed in. She had to protect her secret at all costs.

"I... Uh, no reason? Like at all. Nah, I was just surprised that you were in my… Bed? Besides, why were you in my bed, Weiss?" Now Ruby was genuinely intrigued and worried. Weiss seemed to quickly brush it off saying "What, you won't allow me,  _your girlfriend_ , in your own bed? I'm hurt. I feel so, so-"

Weiss smirked as this fake hurt did the trick.

"No! No, Weiss, I didn't mean anything like that! O-of course you're allowed to uh, be in my bed and stuff! I never said you couldn't… Did I? You're allowed in m-my bed whenever, if you want to, I mean, like I won't force you to go in there or anything…"

Listening as Ruby trailed off, Weiss couldn't help but grin at the whirlwind state of the younger girl's mind as she desperately tried to right all the wrongs she never did. Gosh. That kindness would get her killed one day. She was now somewhat wide-eyed and looked sad, as if this one off-hand comment had completely ruined all semblances of relationship between the two partners. Getting up and off the bed, the full clothed Weiss stroked the side of the still-in-bedwear Ruby's face gently. "Shh, shh, it's okay, I was only joking, Ruby."

This seemed to calm her down considerably.

"Ah... Uh... Okay then… Sorr-"

"Ab-up-bup-bup! I don't want to hear it, you did nothing wrong. Come on then, get your messy self dressed, because we need to get out of this stinking dorm room before the food court stops serving breakfast."

A simultaneous rumble of their stomachs reminded both girls that neither had eaten yet. This encouraged Ruby to go and get changed, finally. Wanting to eat rather quickly, the young girl omitted changing in the bathroom as simply turning away from Weiss was easier and quicker. Of course, Ruby still had a dignity to maintain, and maintain it she intended to. Taking her pajama top off - making sure that Weiss wasn't looking - Ruby put it on the floor. She still had a bra on, as she'd probably flopped into bed without taking it off yesterday and just fell asleep with it on. What she  _didn't_ expect to see was a finger poking at her abdomen.

"Wow. You never told me you had a bit of muscle going on here! It's like, a whole six pack, or whatever you call them!"

The sudden attention by the  _supposedly_ dignified Weiss had send Ruby into full on flustered mode as she whipped her body away from the girl and said, "They're hardly proper abs, they're just sort of there…"

Ruby wasn't wrong - she had never undergone any particular training regimes to get the slightly defined stomach she had, and it had in fact just appeared over time whilst using the heavy Crescent Rose, which wasn't even that heavy. Well, not to her. It wasn't all that impressive really, yet Weiss managed to make a fuss about it. Ruby then remembered another white-haired girl asking her about her abs recently.  _What is it with these girls that they love abs so much?_  Quickly jumping into her black top, and putting on her combat skirt successfully managing to get Weiss to not interfere, it was then that the longest and most annoying part came - the all-important black and red corset.

"Weiss… Would you mind helping me with my corset? It, uh, takes forever to put on, and since you're my… Y'know, girlfriend and stuff... You wouldn't mind, right?"

Ruby seemed  _very_ hesitant. Weiss was almost certain that this was probably the girl's first relationship with anyone beyond a friendship or family level, and definitely the only one with intimacy. She didn't mind in the slightest helping the younger girl put her corset on, she just wasn't sure why Ruby was so hesitant. Sure, it made sense considering how, again, this was likely her first relationship, but surely she'd be just a little bit more forward than she was being now?

Weiss shook the thoughts out of her head and replaced them with new ones as she attempted to help Ruby with her corset.

_How do you even tie these things up? Does she do this alone every morning? Now it makes sense why she takes so long. Her hair smells nice, at least._

After the little corset fiasco, which did happen to involve a little bit of staring off into space, wandering of the mind and most definitely gushing over girlfriends, the two finally headed over to the food court like they did every day to meet up with Blake and Yang. If it was a weekend, then they would usually go about doing their own thing, and meeting up in the food court once or twice maybe. Yang and Blake were currently sat on their regular table, next to team JNPR's, and for the first time sandwiched between another.

The new intruding table happened to be seating none other than Taiyang Xiao Long, sat across from Winter Schnee and Mrs Schnee. Taiyang seemed to be inhaling his breakfast, whilst Mrs Schnee watched on with muted horror and Winter was complaining about something as per the usual. Yang was giggling about something, and Blake was reading her book.  _I wonder what it's even about, anyway._ She was blushing slightly, so Ruby bet it was probably a cheesy romance novel of some sort. Her breakfast of… tuna sandwiches, lay untouched.

 _Oh god_ , Blake thought,  _p-people tie each other up like that?_  She then looked a bit towards Yang and smirked while deep in thought.  _For no good reason, I smirked only because she's always so happy._

After both getting their breakfast, Ruby a healthy helping of pancakes and Weiss with a wheaty cereal of some kind, they both sat at the table opposite them where Yang was the first to greet them. Blake hummed and nodded, completely absorbed by her book. Plopping herself down on the chair, Weiss said, "Thank you for ditching us this morning. We really appreciate it."

While there was no real malice behind Weiss' words, Yang (apparently) took them to heart, slapping her chest and gasping. "I'm hurt! Offended! You know we are such good friends!" Yang's massive shit-eating grin told Weiss otherwise. Instead of trying to argue on, however, she just settled on eating her cereal and just listened in to the various conversations going on around her.

Ruby was chatting with Blake, but all she caught were some overly-excited portrayals and descriptions of various hunter weapons, and a few uninterested hums here and there. It wasn't exactly chatting, per se, in that sense then. Unless it was Yang, literally nobody could hold a proper conversation with the black haired enigma. Not even Weiss, with her top-of-the-class grades.

Yang poked her waffles and didn't seem particularly hungry, and not in the "I'm going to act all sad and not tell anybody why," way. The blonde looked rather excited for the day ahead, considering that it was the second round of the tournaments and most of the boring below-par fighters had been eliminated, with nary a few of them remaining. It was perfectly understandable to be so excited, and Weiss would be lying if she said she wasn't too. Even Blake must have felt even the slightest twinge of interest at these fights - they hadn't even really been properly announced yet, so she could in fact be fighting.

Deciding that the cereal was now soggy and too disgusting to eat, Weiss went to throw away her food. Blake politely asked if she could take hers too, and she obliged. Yang still wasn't finished and it didn't even look like Ruby had started. If she knew the little speedster well - which she did - she would be finished with the pancakes by the time she came back. She was almost as fast as Nora, who had devoured an entire plate of the things in less than, what, fifteen, twenty seconds? It was quite a spectacle to behold, Ruby cheering on, Ren desperately trying to get Nora to stop… Nora complaining for at least two hours afterwards. It was all in a day's work for the hunters and huntresses in training.

She then wondered if their families were excited for the next few rounds, which when she gave it a second thought, was a completely absurd question. Of course they would be - there'd be no reason for them to be here, otherwise. Especially not Winter, who enjoyed nothing more than complaining about anything slightly below a Schnee's standards. There was nothing in Beacon that could possibly appeal to the sixteen year old on that basis, then.

Weiss realised she had taken the long way to get back around to her table with the others, which obviously explained how she had so much time to think. Not like her teammates would care, though, as by now Blake would carry on reading and the sisters would try to one-up each other in ridiculous food-related tomfoolery. Taiyang probably shared much the same habits as Yang, so no doubt he'd be doing something stupid too. Winter would be complaining and her mother would probably be telling Winter to calm down. She always loved her mother more than her father, Weiss did.

Something Weiss  _didn't_ expect Winter to be doing - or to have done - was to have moved over to hers and Ruby's side of the table, and scooch over towards the reaper sitting right next to her.

Winter was getting  _awfully_ cosy with  _her_ girlfriend. She was pushing her limits and overstepping her boundaries. Weiss wasn't going to take this laying down, of course, but she had to be tactful. Nobody wanted a screaming competition this early in the morning. Passive aggression would work. Glare at her from afar, hope that it made her uncomfortable and leave maybe. Or just lay on a thick and firm tone, that quite clearly said, "get out," but not one that advertised itself to the world.

Thinking about out, Weiss was going overboard with her own thoughts.

Standing behind her younger sister, Weiss faked a cough as Winter looked up behind her. With a sickeningly sweet and, 'innocent', smile, Winter politely asked, "Hello, Weiss. Is there a problem?"

"Yes. You're sat next to my girlfriend, now move your self entitled ass," is what she  _wanted_ to say, but Weiss just ended up mumbling something along the lines of, "You took my seat." Proclaiming hers and Ruby's relationship to the world was not ideal, since she didn't think her father would be particularly supportive of said idea. Weiss still had no idea why Winter even moved there in the first place.

"And what's the problem?"

"The problem is that  _I_ was sat here before-"

"Ladies! Ladies! P-Put down your handbags! We can sort this out," interrupted Ruby, ever the diplomat. Weiss rolled her eyes and Winter huffed in indignation. "Okay... How about, I move left by one seat, and Weiss can sit on my right whilst Winter sits on my left? Does that sound good, guys?"  _Please say yes, please say yes, by Dust._

Weiss and Winter were now much more annoyed than before. They had bickered like small children and forgot to realise that  _there was an extra space_ and that  _they could literally sit either side of Ruby._ Weiss then waited for Ruby to move so that she could be in between the Schnee sisters.  _Whew. Dodged that bullet for now._

Weiss was watching Ruby with one eye. She seemed to be nervous and Weiss just couldn't see why. Did Winter's presence make Ruby uncomfortable? Was she unable to contain herself for the tournament?  _Does she want nothing more than to pin me to the floor and_  - stopping herself then and there, Weiss had to remember that Ruby was  _fifteen years old_ and probably more interested in her damn scythe than she was in her or, Dust forbid, Winter. That was funny, considering she was now talking to the girl herself. Weiss also noticed a victorious grin on Winter's face as the two sisters' eyes glanced at each other for a brief moment. Weiss didn't know what to make of this.  _She better not be trying something with_ my _Ruby. Or is it Ruby that's trying something with Winter? It can't be, though. Ruby's way too shy to ask something like that, if our earlier talk was any indication. Or is she putting up a show for me?_  To say Weiss was conflicted was putting it mildly.

Choosing not to dwell on this, Weiss continued to stare into nothing simply to pass the time. It would be a while before Ruby would even be done eating, with a good three-quarter full plate of pancakes still lying before her, though she was now eating the food rather than letting it sit there. Yang decided to take point and said, "So, fearless leader, what're our plans for today? Got any ideas?"

Beginning to babble something along the lines of "mff-ghghh-awmghgh," before quickly blushing, swallowing the pancake and apologising, Ruby said, "ahem - I was thinking we could go and watch round two of the tournaments today, of course. One of us will probably be fighting, if not two. Man, imagine if we had to fight each other…"

"That'd suck," Yang replied. It'd suck to fight  _any_ girl from team RWBY - they were easily one of the best teams in the first year, if not among the top teams in the whole school.

"Yeah. I don't know, let's finish our breakfast and then we can figure out what we want to do."

Ruby failed to spot the problem with this statement, which left Blake giggling behind her book, Weiss rolling her eyes and Yang  _snorting_.

"Sis?"

"Yeah?" Innocent grey eyes looked up towards deep lilac ones.

"You're the only one still eating."

"Oh."  _Duh._

Taking Yang's empty plate and piling it onto her own - wait, where did that pancake go? Weiss could only wonder at this point. She took her plate piled below Yang's and practically teleported to where she was supposed to put them, and again used her semblance to dash back. Was she trying to impress someone?  _Maybe my mother_? Weiss wasn't quite sure, as the epic battle they had a few days ago would do more than just dispel any doubts about the young girl's skill.

It also didn't help that the little red reaper had been told,  _multiple times_ , Weiss might add, to not use her semblance inside the buildings of the site. Not only was it exceptionally dangerous, in case she hit something or lost control - both possibilities which Ruby vehemently denied - but it also left rose petals scattered on the ground, and they could take hours to be blown away by the wind or to just disappear.

As soon as the girl sat back down at the table, Weiss began her lecture.

"Ruby."

"Yes, Weiss?" The firm tone and steely gaze that Weiss was giving to Ruby made her somewhat frightened, but she knew this was just one of her daily lectures on 'not being hyperactive', and definitely not the fact that she might have found out about her double relationship between her and Winter. Nope. At least, Ruby hoped not. It probably wasn't likely as Winter was just chatting to her mother, and not shouting at the cloaked girl.

"I'm fairly certain that both Mrs Goodwitch and Headmaster Ozpin have told you not to use your semblance inside, right?"

"Pfft," Ruby waved it off, "It's not breaking the rules if they don't catch me!"

"And if they do?", Weiss questioned.

"Well… Uh, I just run away using my semblance again normally."

 _Brilliant._ "Brilliant." Weiss' facial expression matched that of a sour candy or sweet - sure, Weiss was cute as heck, but her angriness and bitterness was completely unmatched in literally the whole academy. Besides, she didn't mean to be mean, she was just being mean because she didn't want any of the team to get into trouble. That was Ruby's analogy, at least.

"Look, Weiss, I'm, uh, sorry about that. I won't do it again - promise!"

After giving it a couple moments of thought, Weiss accepted the apology, and then quickly moved on to ask, "And what  _are_ we doing today, anyway?"

"I thought I already explained."

"Yes, but you didn't tell us when or where."

"Oh. That'd probably help. Uh, I don't know, we could go now if you want? Is that good, team?"

The response of the bumblebee members of team RWBY was quite varied for two people - one nodded and continued to read whilst the other got up and was already going. Taiyang evidently had no qualms with the current proposition, and too was getting up and ready to go. Winter was chatting with her mother as the woman finished reading the newspaper that had appeared from seemingly nowhere. Their little troop was ready to go, mostly, and so they all set out from the food court to walk around the site for a while as the training rooms began to open up. It was still early, and Beacon did not want people holding spars at seven o'clock on the morning, and so they opened up at nine. The time being around eight-thirty gave the team an opportune moment to just walk around and enjoy the somewhat brisk weather. Just because it was summer did not mean it was very warm all day.

The students milling about the site with their parents was rather nice. Whilst most just had their mothers and/or fathers, some had grandparents, friends, distant relatives, Weiss swore she even saw a couple of kids running around, aged no older than maybe nine or ten. She wondered if Ruby could probably relate to them, being incredibly hyperactive and constantly on a sugar rush of some kind.

Of course, then again, they didn't wield a seven foot sniper rifle scythe combination and spend their free time being the girlfriend of the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. That was a pretty impressive record for the girl, Weiss thought.

Yet, she found it odd that the girl was perfectly comfortable near her and perfectly fine around Winter, but very fidgety and somewhat agitated when near both at the same time. Maybe she was just nervous. Maybe Weiss was explaining the situation using that word 'nervous' too much.

Approaching the combat arena at a somewhat moderate pace, Mrs. Schnee took the time to admire the beautiful architecture of the large structure, as well as that of all the other buildings in the Beacon site. It was as if the gods heard humanity's pleas for help, and so sent them this divine academy of fascinating curves and mysterious hideaways with soaring heights to train them against the darkness. The main tower's spire, in particular, was absolutely brilliant with a shining green gem located directly in the middle. This didn't downplay the other structures, though, as they too were made out of the same breathtaking white stone and marble construction as was the spire.

The gardens were very well kept. Mrs Schnee imagined that the students probably spent a lot of their time in these lush verdant spaces. She definitely wouldn't be surprised - this place almost outclassed the Schnee manor's vast gardens in both tranquility and spaciousness, if not for the fair number of students constantly roaming around the place and the seemingly intermittent buildings obstructing the path of the gardens. It was an academy, after all, and they had to place function first no matter how much they may enjoy the form.

Stepping into the combat theatre itself was also rather pleasant, Mrs Schnee found. It certainly didn't stink, which was one of her biggest gripes with most public buildings, and most of the area was very well kept, akin to the gardens. The small hallway guided them to the area where most of the arenas themselves could be found, but they entered the main theatre as they knew this would be where the matchups were announced for round two of the tournaments. The veritable mass of people didn't exactly appeal to the Schnees, but she forced it into her own head - Mrs Schnee - that these were all highly respectful warriors, and not just children.

Much as though they may have wanted to be. Evident in Ruby's case.

Having zoned out somewhat for most of the trip to and into the combat theatres, Blake was rather startled when Yang bounded over to her after some fairly unimportant sounding announcements and wrapped her arm around her shoulder, shouting;

"You're up, Blake!"

Blake was inwardly relieved at the prospect of her finally getting to fight someone in the tournament. She couldn't stand the tension between Weiss, Winter and Ruby sat in the audience above, and so this was a nice escape. She'd noticed it before and yet it was especially prominent now.

Heading down to the combat stage, which was apparently hosting her fight, she double checked that everything was in place. Gambol Shroud was attached to her back, the ribbon of the weapon was wrapped all up her arm, her bow was taut and her clothes were in their best condition. She was ready.

"And it appears Ms. Belladonna's challenger will be…"

A couple of people waited with bated breath. Specifically team RWBY. Blake was an  _incredibly_ good fighter. Fighting her would be a death sentence for any of the girls, one that they'd have to fight tooth and nail to survive.

"...Mr. Winchester."

Team RWBY burst into sighs of relief, safe from the sights of the cat faunus for another day.

Her challenger, Cardin Winchester, made his way up to the stage. The tall young man was the resident bully, but could fight fairly well. The large mace of his was not to be trifled with - a couple hits from the thing and you'd be down and out. Having watched his spar with Jaune a few weeks back gave Blake a couple of ideas. Speed would be her friend - Cardin seemed to lack mobility.

"Are we in position, Ms. Belladonna? Mr. Winchester?"

Blake stoically nodded at Mrs. Goodwitch's words. Cardin nodded with a characteristic smirk.

"Good. In three, two, one, begin!"

Mrs. Goodwitch's words rang out throughout the sparring arena, as Cardin began his charge. He had his black mace in a solid two handed grip, ready for a rib-shattering strike of the flanks. Blake also charged forward, and met his quickly approaching mace to her left with her own cleaver. Taking a quick step back, Cardin brought his mace up, and swung down with a heavy blow. A deft and practiced backflip was all it took for Blake to avoid the simply attack, and when she had focused on Cardin again, he was running.

_He doesn't seem to use strategy, but he's strong regardless._

Unsheathing Gambol Shroud into its dual sword form, Blake lashed out at the somewhat unprepared boy with a vicious kick to his side, giving her the momentary advantage she needed and putting her in place to pull off her next move. The flurry of blows from both sword and sharp sheath that Cardin received reduced his aura levels significantly. This put Blake ahead, and having backed off, she decided on her next move.

From the stands, a few rows up, Ruby and Yang were on their feet and waving and cheering, though she couldn't make out what they were saying from the distance. The huge toothy grin on the blonde's face and the way the smaller girl's eyes twinkled told her all she needed to know. Weiss was also rather interested at the battle unfolding before her eyes. Winter watched with mild interest, as did Mrs. Schnee. Blake would bet that the woman was examining her every move, looking to pick out any faults she could.

Luckily, Blake was a nearly flawless fighter.

This became more apparent as Cardin took his opportunity, swinging the huge mace of his in a diagonal strike, but the strong steel of the weapon simply passed through Blake altogether. Confusion was evident on his face, but even more so was the momentum he was still carrying backwards, and the same momentum that had just toppled him over. Blake had reappeared by his side, and several midsection strikes with her sheath pushed the boy's reserves of aura lower and lower.

The striking leg extruding from the grounded fighter had caught Blake off guard, and she was put into the air for barely a second as superhuman faunus reflexes kicked in and she performed an elegant backflip, straight onto her feet and ready to attack once again. It seemed that the copper-haired brute was still not done, despite his aura levels inching on the red zone, and Blake had to give it to him, he definitely didn't give up easily.

Meeting at the centre of the stage, cleaver met mace in a quick deflection from Blake though Cardin seemed intent on absolutely pummelling her with his sheer power. Whilst he wasn't fast enough to strike her with the mace directly, a hard kick to Blake's stomach made her stumble fairly badly, and the boy used the opportunity to deliver a crushing blow to her stomach once again.

Yang gasped in horror, and fearfully looked upwards. She knew that the blow definitely wasn't enough alone to take out the skilled ninja, but somewhere deep inside her, she was terrified that this  _was_ the case. It wasn't, as she'd initially suspected, but Blake had been knocked all the way from green into the yellow levels of aura. Ruby was already cheering Blake on again, shouting "Get up, Blake! You can do this! Nothin' can stop ya now!"

Blake's chest seared with pain for all but a moment after the mace had impacted, and without even looking at her aura bar she knew she was way down. Recovering quickly, though, Blake began a new dash towards Cardin. Her opponent was moving much slower than she, for reasons ranging from a larger weapon to heavier armour and including the amount of damage he'd taken. Predicting a swift slash from the black sword of hers, Cardin made sure his mace was in a firm sideways grip like he had started with that could easily double as a tool to block the oncoming blow.

Said oncoming blow never came though, as he heard a gunshot and the cat faunus was gone. Literally - he looked all around him, yet the ninja was nowhere to be seen, except for -

Tugging the wedged sword out of the roof, attached to the ribbon, she fired the gun again as it made contact with the floor and planted itself firmly into the ground. Already falling, Blake tugged herself with the rope to reach blurring speeds as she hurtled towards the ground. Cardin, not having any of this trickery, swung his mace up into the air in a wild attempt to hit the falling girl.

And once again, he hit nothing but the ethereal clone and his mace swung straight through it. He knew his mistake, and he knew that he had lost, and he also knew that he was simply too slow to make any attempt to defend himself from the coming strike.

The decisive strike was delivered when Blake, already having retrieved the sword out of the ground, fired the gun once again and watched as the ribbon wrapped itself around the weary brute. Pulling the taut ribbon, Blake flew towards her opponent and in one, deft and elegant spinning attack, plunged the boy's aura levels to the doomed red state.

A whistle sounded, and the match was over, the lights of the stadium slowly rising back to their previous brightness.

"And the winner of this match is Miss Belladonna! Congratulations, Blake," said Goodwitch as she eyed the girl over. The ribbon wrapped around her right arm was a little loose from the heavy use of the thing in the latter part of the battle, and her hair didn't seem to have fared much better splayed everywhere like the limbs of a morning Ruby, but overall she looked well enough. Save for the somewhat deep breaths she was taking.

Goodwitch couldn't help but be pleased with the raven-haired student. While it was no secret she was an excellent fighter, she was particularly docile when it came to combat class, and opted to fight as little as was possible for her. She was always far more interested in that large notebook of hers, sometimes even falling asleep. Having worried about the possibility of her losing badly in the tournament, Goodwitch was glad that she had made a large step of progress today, making it out of the spar with only a single hit to her aura (even if it was a rather considerable one).


	9. Chapter 9

_Come to the workshop._

Ruby found the message on her scroll. At first, she was a little puzzled, trying to figure out exactly why Winter wanted to meet her there. It was not time for Crescent Rose's monthly disassembly yet, so it was not because Winter wanted to watch her do it. And, as far as Ruby knew, Winter wasn't going to be a Huntress like her sister, so it couldn't be helping her with her weapon, either.

However, Ruby, being her usual obedient self, decided to comply with the younger Schnee's request. Not to mention Winter's no-bull tone anytime she wanted something, which slightly frightened the reaper, but at the same time made her all fuzzy inside.

So there she was, walking towards the workshop, Crescent Rose at her belt as per usual, thinking about Winter's motives.  _She might want me to show her some moves._  A giddy smile flew across her face when her thoughts reached the "maybe she wants me to teach her how to use it" point. The smile faded immediately when she recalled how heavy the scythe was to the older girl when she held it for the first time. It wasn't likely that she'd be able to handle it anyway.

She made her way down to the workshop, so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't hear the humming close by. Ruby was startled when a pair of slender arms yanked her towards a darker corner of the workshop.

"Woah, woah, woah…" Ruby wanted to protest, but a soft hand closed over her mouth. Ruby then noticed the pure white sleeves of the hand in question and she seemingly calmed down.

"W-Winter… Please don't do that again." Ruby was still slightly shaking.

"Did I scare you? But I was humming a song, didn't you hear?" Ruby shook her head and Winter pulled the girl into a hug. "I'm sorry, Ruby. I won't do that again."

The soft fabric of Winter's clothes, combined with her sweet scent was enough to calm Ruby down. She then took a deep breath before speaking again.

"So, why did you want to see me here?"

Winter spared her a look. "I wanted to spend some time with my girlfriend. And since you don't want to make us public, I had to choose a place where we won't be bothered."

Ruby's look fell to the floor.  _I want to make us public, but I don't want to lose Weiss. Not after what I had to go through to make her like me._ "I… I…" Ruby wanted to say something,  _anything_ , but nothing came out of her mouth. She knew she couldn't tell Winter the truth. She looked back up, into Winter's beautiful eyes, trying to come up with something to say, but before she could think of anything, something soft pressed against her lips.

Ruby's eyes widened in fear at the sudden touch before realizing what exactly was happening. Winter's lips were pressed on Ruby's and they were warm and nice.

Ruby pushed Winter away. Seeing her puzzled expression, Winter tilted her head sideways. "Is something wrong, Ruby?" Her tone had lost the usual sassy edge in favour of a more calm and caring voice.

The girl in question was completely flustered in that moment, her face as red as her cloak, mouth agape. It took her a few seconds to regain the gift of speech back. "I… Um… W-What was that f-for?"

"Aren't you my girlfriend? Isn't kissing something lovers do?" Ruby detected a small increase in the sassiness.

"W-Well… I guess… B-But it was so s-sudden…"

Winter looked at Ruby in amazement and sudden realization. "I stole your first kiss, didn't I?" Ruby nervously nodded and Winter had a victorious smile plastered across her face.  _That's one 'first' you will never get, Weiss. Not like you ever stood a chance, anyway._

"Did anyone ever tell you you're an absolute cutie?" Ruby's blush deepened even more at those words, Winter barely able to believe her eyes. _I didn't think you could blush as hard as this._   _You really are full of surprises._  Winter felt like she could just watch Ruby being her adorable self forever, but she realized she had another motive for dragging Ruby down there.

She took Ruby's hand in hers and looked her in the eyes. "Ruby…"  _How to word this in a way that isn't creepy and wouldn't make her mad? Not like she even looks like she could get mad at anything. But I don't want to sound creepy._

"Yes, Winter?"

 _To hell with it._  "Untie your corset," Winter said in a sullen tone.

Ruby jumped. "W-What?"

"You promised to show me your abs a while ago and you still haven't. I want to see them."

"W-Well, I… There w-wasn't an opp-opportunity…"

"Come on, Ruby. I just want to see them."

Ruby reluctantly started fidgeting with the laces on her corset, trying to untie them as quickly as possible. "Y-You'll help me t-tie it later, won't you?" When Winter nodded, Ruby weakly smiled and continued with untying.

Finally, the corset was ready to take off and Winter couldn't restrain herself any longer. She jumped at Ruby the moment the corset was off, lifting the shirt the reaper wore under the corset. Ruby took hold of the shirt so Winter could get a closer look, and took a deep breath for what was to come.

And when that happened, Ruby heard a gasp before feeling a finger brush her abdomen. The finger traced the barely defined six pack and Ruby found the feeling alluring, in a way. Then she felt Winter's lips touching one of the mounds on her abdomen and the sheer gentleness of the touch made Ruby's knees weak and her breathing faster. Her weak knees made her kneel and eventually sit down, leaning her back on a wall.

Winter looked at Ruby and the reaper saw a glint of something in those beautiful eyes. A glint of something she didn't recognize. All she knew was that she never saw that look in anyone.

Winter knew what the glint in her eyes was. She was craving the girl before her, her cuteness, her abs, her whole body. She wanted her. The glint in her eyes was that of want, of untamable desire. She acted on that desire by crashing her lips with Ruby's again. This time, Ruby returned the kiss, albeit gingerly.

While kissing the girl, Winter started caressing Ruby's side with her hands, firmly, but carefully enough to not touch any of the more… P _ronounced…_ Zones of Ruby's body. She then let go of Ruby's mouth and pressed her lips on the girl's abdomen, kissing the slightly pronounced bumps on her stomach.

Ruby's breath started getting faster and shorter and Winter took it as a sign to continue. From time to time, a small moan left Ruby's mouth, which only served to fire up the Schnee more. It was only after a while that Winter realized there might be more to Ruby's moans and short breaths. She looked up and saw the brunette's scared expression and tear trails on her cheeks.  _Oh no._  She immediately stopped what she was doing.

"Ruby? What's wrong?"

Ruby spoke through light sobs. "I'm… Scared."

"Scared of what?" Winter was very worried at this point and she let it show.

"It's… What if… Someone… Sees us?" That wasn't the only thing Ruby wasn't happy about, but she decided not to bother her girlfriend with that other thing.

"Well, if they do, that's probably the moment we become public."

Ruby paled. "B-But… Weiss…"

"What about my sister?"

"W-Well…"  _Think, Ruby! Think!_ "I… Given the… Relationship you two have… I'm afraid she… Will hate me again."  _Well, it_ isn't _a complete lie._

"That's stupid of her."

 _Dust. I'll have to bring up that other thing, won't I?_ "Then there's… Also that other thing."

"What other thing?"

"W-Well, I'm only fifteen, Winter."

Winter's face changed expression to that of realization. "Ooh. I'm so sorry, Ruby. I didn't want to make you feel like I'm forcing myself on you. I wasn't even going to… Go any further." Winter looked at the ground, more than slightly ashamed of herself and her half-lie.

Ruby lifted Winter's face so they saw eye to eye again. "I liked the kiss, though." Winter let out a small laugh before pushing in for another kiss.

* * *

The two girls failed to notice or even sense another presence in the vicinity of the room they were in. The figure heard and saw it all. As the two girls continued making out, the third person was thinking about the events that just transpired, their mind a complete mess of emotions which were brought (somewhat) quickly under control.

When the figure saw Winter jumping on Ruby, she wasn't too happy about it. A part of her wanted to bust in and give Winter and, to a certain extent, Ruby, a piece of her mind.  _Especially_ when the two kissed. While it didn't seem like Ruby was reciprocating, the thought of Winter stealing her first kiss instead of her angered Weiss.

The desire to intrude grew even stronger once she heard the order to undress. Winter was  _not_  going to steal  _that_  first from her. If she did, it would be simply unfair. Weiss was the one that was always around Ruby, even if not always willingly. Weiss was the one that was harboring feelings for the cute reaper for the last few months. Winter only knew her for a couple days and she was already trying to steal all her firsts? There was no way in hell Weiss would let that happen.

She was holding Myrtenaster's handle when Ruby started sniffling. There was hate in her eyes. She was ready to bust in and slice her sister in half or at least give her something to remember. Then a thought occurred to her:  _If I hurt my sister, Ruby will hate me, not to mention my whole family. I simply can't do this._  She let go of Myrtenaster, letting it clatter to the ground, and silently began plotting how to separate the two girls so Ruby could be hers and hers only.

In the end, seeing that Ruby was apparently happy with Winter, she decided not to intrude, but rather to keep it a secret. She'd keep dating Ruby and try to undermine her relationship with Winter subtly. The Schnee way. With a smirk, she carefully left the workshop, leaving behind her the two kissing girls. In her head, she was already starting plotting the exact way she was going to go about this.

The plot, however, already had one fatal flaw.

* * *

After the pair of white and red had finished their little, "session", in the corner of the workshop, Winter helped Ruby do up her corset. She idly wondered if she had gotten any of her teammates to help her before, as it seemed like a pretty difficult task with just one set of hands. The delicate zig-zagging of the soft material used to tie the body piece up was deceptively annoying to do up. So much so, in fact, that she had to sit there for five minutes and help a furiously blushing Ruby tie the damned thing back up again. Winter wasn't complaining, of course - five minutes more with her girlfriend was five minutes well spent.

Ruby had then stammered out a thank you, and after quickly swiveling her head around to check the workshop was  _completely_ empty, she pecked Winter on the head and shot out of the workshop in a flurry of roses. It made Winter feel warm inside, to know that the younger girl felt the same way about her as she did about Ruby. Winter chuckled and wondered if perhaps she spent most of her time in this workshop full of all kinds of tools, items and parts. Walking out at a much more dignified and control pace than Ruby (which wasn't all that hard), Winter then decided that it would probably be a good idea to go and meet up with everyone else. The tournament was still taking place after all, and it'd be ideal if she wasn't late to the matches. That would be rather unbecoming of a Schnee.

Of course, she was stopped in her tracks by a sparkle on the ground, a reflected light that shone and caught her eye. Looking down, it appeared to be a rapier of some sort, and picking the weapon up, she quickly identified it as  _Weiss' own Myrtenaster._

She stared at the light weapon held in both hands - the handle in the left, blade in the right - and wondered what it was ever doing here. As far as she was aware, her sister was never without her rapier, and her sister certainly was not here right now. Perhaps she dropped it earlier, having come in before she did? Maybe Ruby had hidden it somewhere, and taken it to be sharpened or whatever for Weiss?

A multitude of possibilities filled her head, and she identified the most outlandish yet most likely possibility of them all.

Myrtenaster was not lying on the floor before Winter walked in, and it was not lying on the floor before Ruby walked in. Either one of them would have seen its glint. This meant that it had appeared whilst Ruby and Winter were going about their business. The rapier, as she said, never left the heiress' side, so Weiss must have been by the workshop at some point or another to have dropped it.

This also meant that she would have been able to see the pair from where the rapier lay, without even needing to get closer. She could have silently looked into the room, saw the two, and left, accidently leaving behind the precious weapon in the process. That'd also explain the soft clatter of metal she thought she heard earlier.

And that meant one thing. She knew. Yet it felt weird to Winter. Was Weiss so shocked to find out that her sister is dating Ruby that she forgot her weapon? Or did she want Winter to know she knows? Either way, Winter was unsure how to proceed. Should she leave the rapier there and leave it to Weiss to realize she's missing it? Should she take it back to her and hope she catches her alone so they can talk about it? Was there anything to talk about, really? Ruby liked Winter and the Schnee reciprocated the feeling. There was absolutely no problem about it in Winter's head. And Weiss would have to accept that Ruby decided on her own.

Ultimately, she decided she'd leave the rapier there. Nobody asked Weiss to come and monitor Ruby for whatever reason, she could get her own damn sword back if she wanted it.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the workshop, more than halfway from it to the dorms, Weiss mentally kicked herself when she noticed that Myrtenaster wasn't at her side like usual. She must have dropped it at some point - probably when she was tempted to draw it on the kissing pair of Ruby and Winter.

There was no second way about it, she had to go retrieve her weapon. Before she could turn around, Ruby sped past her, leaving a trail of rose petals behind. Weiss caught one of them and brought it to her nose while rubbing it gently. The gentle scent of the rose calmed her down and made her more confident about her plan. Ruby was worth it. She was not going to share her, especially not with her sister.

She walked back to the workshop and saw Winter about a quarter of the way there. Before she could think of a good place to hide and wait for her to pass, Winter noticed her.

"Good morning, Weiss."

Weiss nodded before returning the greeting that meant nothing, as they both knew. Winter had a victorious smirk on her face, but Weiss didn't want to tell her she knows, on the off chance that Winter failed to see the rapier before leaving the workshop.  _Just you wait. You won't smile for much longer._

"Headed somewhere?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. I have to go sharpen my Myrtenaster."

"You do? Where is it, then? I don't see it on your belt."

 _So you did see it._ "I keep it in the workshop sometimes."

"Sure you do, sis."  _Well then, she knows I was there. Big deal. What will she do about it?_

"Key word being 'sometimes', dear sister. And what were _you_  doing here this early?"

Winter's mouth widened even more. "Oh, y'know. Took a morning stroll through the campus, watching the flowers. Roses, in particular."

 _You little…_  "Well, nice chatting with you, sister, but I really have to go sharpen Myrtenaster."  _Get a grip, Weiss. Don't lash out. Just go and pick up that blasted rapier and that's it._

"Wouldn't want to hinder you on your path. See you around!"

The sickeningly sweet smile Winter wore on her face as she skipped out of the workshop disgusted Weiss. She was deliberately trying to make the huntress-in-training explode with anger, but being a Schnee, she was taught from birth to be calm and calculating. So, of course, she would go about this in a non-barbaric way. No screaming matches, no public displays of over-the-top emotion, and no (if not, just a few) secret plans. She would talk to Winter about it, when she stopped acting so childish, and confront her face to face on the matter.

It did actually provide an ample excuse to give her weapon a seeing to. She hadn't actually sharpened the blade in a while, and all the brunt of sparring was beginning to wear it down. The last time she had sharpened it must have been, what, a week or so before that spar with Ruby? Weiss wasn't exactly sure, not keeping to a strict schedule like Ruby, but rather doing things when she needed to. As such, this also meant that the revolver mechanism probably needed servicing, as did most of the other parts of the weapon - of which there were few.

Walking inside the workshop, she picked up her rapier, and felt the familiar litheness associated with it. The thin form of the sword was certainly different to Ruby's destructive scythe, but still lethal in it's own ways, even if they were not in head-to-head combat. It acted as a catalyst of sorts for her arsenal of dust, with the rainbow-coloured shells in the revolver mechanism containing all the firepower she needed to eliminate whatever foe came her way.

It was almost funny, in a way. She had a way with taking people down using words alone, as well as using dust to take down monsters. Words acted as her dust in social interaction, coming in many varieties - soothing and caring, for those she was close to, as well as cold and harsh for those she didn't care so much for.

Winter would likely be on the receiving end of the latter soon enough.

Weiss' mind wandered as she sharpened the blade, muscle memory guiding her through the necessary processes to service the weapon. It was far less complicated than Crescent Rose, which she knew could take hours to disassemble to anyone who wasn't Ruby, requiring not much more than sharpening and a good clean.

Hell, her (Weiss', not Winter's) girlfriend could probably make Myrtenaster look and work like new in less than a couple minutes. Perhaps she would ask her to do that next time.

Through all the deliberation of herself and Ruby, she realised that she had not been paying an awful lot of attention to Blake or Yang recently. Whilst the blonde would not care all that much, Weiss didn't want to harm her and the Faunus' relationship any further by drifting apart. She made a mental note to go and have a friendly chat with Blake later, see what she was up to, ask her how she felt about the tournament or something.

Post script note that she  _could_ also converse with Yang, but Ruby likely had that base covered.

Why couldn't Weiss have the same kind of relationship with Winter as Ruby did with Yang? The two were so close, and had a tightly knit relationship - she and Winter couldn't be much further apart. As much as she'd love to make amends with the girl, and have the proper sister-sister relationship Weiss always wanted deep down, the arrogant little brat would probably place spiting Weiss above building bridges.

She wasn't even sure what she hated about Winter most at this point - the absurdly long ponytails, the sickly sweet smile, the outright arrogance or just that knowing  _smirk_ which said "I'm making her mine," without even letting loose a single word from her lips. An infuriating enigma, more suited to Blake's tastes, Weiss thought. These were what she  _imagined_ her novels were about, anyway. Honestly, she had so many books, it was borderline ridiculous. As long as her need to read was sated, she didn't mind.

Shaking her head after going on a tangent, Weiss had now finished sharpening her blade, and it now gleamed in the sunlight filtering through the windows of the workshop, accentuated by the floating dust particles. The sunlight reflecting off of it would quite possibly blind someone at the right angle. Deftly twirling the rapier in her hands, she picked herself up and away from the grindstone and lay the weapon on the table, before releasing the blade and pulling it back from the revolver mechanism.

The different coloured dust cartridges looked back at her, inside the extremely fine metal casing they were housed. Taking the rag she had picked up not long ago, Weiss began to polish the inner workings, the very heart, of Myrtenaster, all the while softening ideas of Winter filling her head.

If Winter didn't want to make it work, Weiss would have to make  _her_ work.

* * *

Ruby didn't know how to make this work.

She was double dating her teammate and her teammate's sister, both of whom were Schnees, one of (if not the) most powerful families in Remnant.

They were both highly sarcastic and analytical, and would not take long to figure out the ploy Ruby was playing.

When they did, the relationships would go up in flames and the daughters would burst into  _fire_.

To say Ruby was scared at this point in time would be a woefully large understatement.

So much so, in fact, that she was currently sat on her bunk bed and shaking ever so slightly. She had acted so confident, gotten both of them on board, and now she was in an irreversible mess. Even the peck to Winter's head was a cover up of her internal terror. Ruby just needed someone to hug her right now, snuggle with her, tell her everything would be okay - someone who  _wasn't_ one of her girlfriends.

Some kind of higher power must have heard her pleas and cries of desperation and want for help, and answered them with the best possible solution.

"Sis?"

Ruby looked down on the floor and saw Yang looking up at her with concerned eyes.  _She'd be perfect for what I need now._

"W-Would you come up here, please?"

Yang, seeing her little sister in distress, promptly jumped on the bunk bed. Ruby actually got scared for a moment. She thought one of the ropes would snap and then…  _I don't need to think this! I have enough problems as is!_

"Ruby, talk to me. Did anyone hurt you?"

Ruby shook her head. Before saying anything, she hugged Yang as tightly as she could. Yang was stunned for a moment, but returned the favour immediately after. Something was bugging her little sister and Yang was sure to come down to the root of it and make it better, no matter the cost.

"Yang, I got myself into a bit of a pickle."

Ruby pulled away from Yang and the blonde looked at the reaper, who was part stern, part wreck. "I need your help, your advice."

"Sure thing, sis, that's why big sis Yang is here! What's the matter?" Her trademark wide smile never faltered.

"Yang, I… I am seeing someone."

Yang looked at her sister incredulously. "What's so unnerving about that?" If anything, her smile got wider, if that was even possible.

Ruby hesitated for a moment.  _Don't tell me that someone knocked you up, please don't._  What came out of Ruby's mouth, though, surprised her even more.

"I… Am seeing two people at the same time. And they don't know about it. And I'm afraid they'll find out. And then they'll both hate me."

 _Oh, boy. This'll be good._  Yang used her most collected voice and asked: "Do I know them?"

Ruby nodded and Yang made a gesture to urge her to continue. The young reaper looked around sheepishly. "Well, Ruby? Spill it. Who?"

"Um… Well… One is W-Weiss…"

_I expected that. Okay. Who is the other one, then?_

"And the-the other is…" Ruby whispered something underneath her breath and Yang couldn't make out nothing more than "-er."

"Come again?"

"Winter."

Yang felt lightheaded in an instant. Thank dust she was lying on the bed by the time she lost the sense of space, else she'd be falling to the ground.


	10. Chapter 10

Yang lay there, mouth agape, still processing what her younger sister just said.

"Rubes, did you just say you're dating not one, but  _both_  Schnee sisters?" Ruby nodded and Yang brought a fist to her mouth and bit one of her fingers, her forehead wrinkled as she was thinking of what to do. "That is… You're right - a pickle, to put it mildly."

"What am I to do, Yang? I don't want to hurt them."

"I don't think that'll be an easy thing to do. How did this come to be?"

"Well, you know how I was when Winter and her mother came?"

"Yeah, of course I remember that. You were shivering as if it was freezing cold."

Ruby blushed. "Well, that was because of Winter."

"You got it right there, sis."

"Yang! This is not the time for your puns!"

"Sorry."

"Anyway, I fell for her instantly. But the thing is, me and Weiss were getting pretty close too."

Ruby then started telling Yang the whole story. The blonde bombshell of course knew some parts to the story, especially the parts involving Weiss. And sure, Yang noticed Ruby's weird behaviour when Winter was around. She even called her out on it. But she never thought Ruby would steal both Schnee siblings' hearts, let alone at the same time.  _Ah, who am I kidding, she's super adorkable, whose heart_ wouldn't  _she steal?_  She listened intently on the whole story, soaking in every minute detail of her little sister's confession.

"... And then it all just kinda happened and they both asked me out and I couldn't say no and I didn't even want to say no because I like both of them and now I'm so scared, Yang. They'll both hate me if they find out, I'm sure of it. You've seen how they are when they are together. And if they realize I'm dating both of them, hell will break loose, I feel it. Gosh, Yang, they'll kill me!"

 _Hmmm… I think I have an idea._ Yang stretched out her arm and pressed Ruby tightly close to herself. "Don't worry, Rubes. They won't kill you. I won't allow them."

"But you don't-"

"I know enough about them. Weiss is so over the moon for you that she couldn't hurt you if she tried. And Winter… Well, she looks like a wuss, despite her attitude. Even if they tried to hurt you, they'd have to get through me first. You know that, don't you?" Ruby nodded in Yang's chest. Yang then pushed Ruby away so she could look her in the eye. "I have an idea."

Ruby gave her sister a hopeful look. Yang kept quiet. Ruby didn't want to intrude, but after a few seconds, she couldn't hold herself back. "Any day now?"

Yang mused and ruffled Ruby's hair. "Oh you little impatient imp, you."

"I'm  _not_  an imp! I'm two years younger than you!" Ruby forgot why she was so upset for a moment. She would  _not_  take this mocking lying down.  _Especially_ from Yang.

"Shush. Do you want to hear my idea or not?"

"Of course I do, but that doesn't give you a right to mock me!", Ruby pouted.

Yang let out a small laugh at the face her sister was making. "Oh, Ruby, you're so adorable. I completely understand why both of them fell for you."

"You're not helping."

"What I'm trying to say, Rubes, is that you're a teenager. A sweet, bumbly, blooming teenager. And you look super badass with that oversized scythe of yours."

"Crescent Rose most certainly  _isn't_  oversized. It's just the right size!"

"Sure thing, sis. But let me continue, okay?" Ruby nodded and muttered a small apology. "I'm saying you're cute and badass. Furthermore, you started growing, maturing. In more ways than one."

"What's this got to do with my situation?"

"If you'd let me finish… The same happened to Weiss and Winter. But they grew up in a family that probably taught them to suppress the emotions they felt. Their hearts turned to ice, so to speak. But you, Ruby, with your attitude, your sweet and innocent personality, reminded them of the times when they were small kids, when they probably had more freedom than now. And it melted their hearts. That's why they both like you."

"But-"

"Ruby, shush. Embrace your situation. You're dating both of them, big deal! It happens everywhere all the time! From what I've seen from the both of them, I don't think they'll be angry at you if they find out, but rather at each other. The two of them are the poster picture of sibling rivalry. And if you are the cause of rivalry, you should be proud of yourself, not sad and scared. If some day, dust forbid, the three of you grow apart and you are left alone, you will find yourself yearning for the touch of either one of them. So savour it as long as it lasts. Even if it turns out it'll last a lifetime. Savour it, because you never know. The next kiss, the next hug, the next touch… Could be the last."

Yang started drifting away in the distance as she was talking, envisioning a dark scalp in her mind.  _I miss my mother. And yours, Ruby. Wait. That hair isn't my mother's. It has something extra on it. A… Bow?_  Yang's eyes widened at the sudden realization of her vision. One which… She couldn't even really describe.

Ruby soaked in Yang's words like a sponge and the longer Yang kept talking, the more Ruby's smile was widening. She failed to notice Yang's expression because she was overwhelmed by her sister's care for her. She hugged her sister as tightly as she could and was a little surprised when Yang didn't return the hug immediately. She dismissed it as her own perception though, as she felt the familiar arm on her back not long after.

"Thanks, Yang. You're the best sister ever."

"Yeah, uhuh, you know it sis. Hey - did you see Blake anywhere, by the way? I haven't seen her all day…"

* * *

Said girl was, rather unsurprisingly, catching up with her reading in the library. Students of Beacon knew they could come to the library and read a book or do some studying whenever they wanted to, so they chose not to come in the middle of a holiday. Blake, on the other hand, saw it as a perfect opportunity to sit in comfortable silence as she read her small collection of books. Whilst in the White Fang, books were one of her only ways of escaping from the harsh reality of being a young faunus optimist.

And so, naturally, she fell in love with books at a young age, where the hero - much like Ruby said - would always fight for what was right and would always win. Granted, perhaps most of her stories didn't follow this exact pattern, but it held the general guideline; the character would look for something, and sure enough, they'd find it in the end.

Whether it be love, revenge, freedom or just a nap from their stupid sergeant.

The stash of book she had back at team RWBY's dorm was certainly nice, but she needed more reading material in order to satisfy her need to read. This is what prompted her to come to the dead silent Beacon library in the first place, where one could hear a pin drop from a mile away. Not necessarily because people were being quiet - whenever Ruby and Weiss were in here working on a project, they tended to make a racket arguing - but because there was nobody around to make any noise.

Blake had picked up the first book on the shelf which caught her eye - the first book in some series called "Red Versus Blue" and spent most of her day reading the books. Whilst at first she thought they were just a few comedy sketches, the story actually turned into something meaningful, still making her giggle all the while. Blake wasn't sure what book she was on by now, but she was certainly enjoying the story.

""Hey Tex," said the mystery voice, after having a spherical artifact of some sort thrown at her, "why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" Tex was shocked to see the figure in blue armour stood before her, holding a sniper rifle…" Blake softly read to herself subconsciously.

"Enjoying the story?"

Blake quite literally jumped out of her own skin, and she might have even  _hissed_. She wasn't used to being snuck up on, constantly aware of her surroundings at all times, so Weiss' sudden and unexpected voice scared the life out of her.

"Weiss! Ahh... Err... What are you doing here?" It was a genuine question in Blake's defense. Weiss always studied with Ruby in the library, and the little redhead was nowhere to be found. While it could be argued she simply wanted to study alone, Blake knew for one that Weiss would study in the dorm room if she was to do it alone, as it left her closer to the kettle and made it easier to make tea. Having ruled out the possibility of studying, she was still left somewhat clueless as to why Weiss was even here in the first place. Maybe she was looking for her, for Blake?

"I was looking for you, Blake."

Ah. That made sense.

"Well… Here I am. What is the problem?" asked Blake inquisitively, searching for an answer from the girl. She also made sure that Weiss couldn't see the cover of the book - the last thing she wanted was a trusted friend thinking she read low quality rubbish, when it was actually really, really in depth and wonderful.

"Problem? Well… I was looking for you, just so we could have a nice chat, but now you mention it, I think I do have a problem of some sort…" The way Weiss spoke clearly indicated to the faunus that the girl wasn't lying, and seemed to sincerely have a problem.

"Do you feel like talking about it?"

Taking in a deep breath, Weiss breathed out as she said "Yeah. Yeah, that would be nice, Blake."

Blake opened her arms in a welcoming gesture, book still in hands, and put a small smile on her face. "I'm all ears, Weiss."

"Well… It's Winter."

"Winter, hmm? I'm not awfully surprised…" Blake rolled her eyes as she remembered all the tension between the two every time they were around each other. It seemed that a silent war was going on, and nobody had even noticed.

"This is going to sound ridiculous, and you must promise not to tell anybody." Blake nodded. Weiss seemed to contemplate her words, before saying "I do believe Winter is dating Ruby".

Blake had gathered that. Seeing the two together more often than not meant that this revelation was not as big as Weiss likely thought it would have been.

"And what's the pro-"

Weiss somewhat rudely interrupted by saying "And the problem, is that I am  _also_ dating Ruby."

Well. That was definitely rather interesting.

"That's a fairly peculiar situation."

"You think?" Weiss stood up, and reverted to Schnee mode. "Here I am, living a mostly ideal life, training as a respected huntress alongside a brilliant team. I have the girl of my dreams by my side, and we have a lovely relationship." Weiss turned on her heel, directly towards Blake, who had put the now closed book into her lap to be checked out. "And what does Winter do? Winter walks in, and takes what is mine for her  _own_. She is such a ignorant, bratty little idiot of an excuse for a little sister!"

To say Weiss looked and acted rather frustrated would be a tremendous understatement.

"But you know what's worse? I want to build bridges, to fix this dysfunctional relationship, but she's just not letting me in…" Weiss, somewhat surprisingly, fell to her knees. "I just want a happy, normal relationship with my sister, but she turns me away and does something stupid. Is that too much to ask, is it really?! Look at Ruby and Yang! They get along so well! Why can't  _we_ be like that?!"

Weiss' voice was trailing off raspily, and her eyes were teary. "I just… I can't… I just want to get along…"

Weiss' sniffling brought Blake over the edge, and so she felt obliged to shuffle over and hug her. She stroked her hair, and whispered calming shushes into her ear in an attempt to calm the girl down, which actually seemed to be working. "It's okay," Blake said, "You're Weiss Schnee. Like you said, you're on top of the world, and if the resilient woman I know can't pull through this then I don't know who I'm talking to. You're a strong person, Weiss, never give up."

Weiss was quite honestly surprised by the sudden affection from Blake. She never pegged the cat faunus as the type to be emotionally soothing, but then again, she never pinned Yang to be a mothering figure or Ruby to be relationship material. Surprises were just around the corner, and now part of everyday life, living with team RWBY.

Blake also surprised herself - she never knew she was the caring type either. As far as she knew, she was just that quiet and secretive ninja lady on team RWBY to everyone else, and the faunus in disguise to her teammates. The last thing she thought she'd be doing in her lifetime was consoling the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company.

* * *

A few days passed and the school campus was pretty empty. Ruby was exploring the slightly hidden park where she found Weiss the day she lashed out on Ruby. For some reason, that park held importance for Ruby and she felt she had to find something there.

Ruby was too busy admiring the surrounding landscape to even have a chance to react when she was pulled into the nearby bush. All that could be seen was a girl making a soft yelp, whilst being rather promptly dragged into a bush by a quickly moving unseen hand.

"Jeez. Are you always so jumpy? I mean, that yelp was cute, so I think I'll allow it."

Winter. Of course. She seemed to have a knack for dragging Ruby wherever she wanted to, being quite a controlling sort of person, especially over their relationship. To say she didn't like that at all, Ruby would be lying

"Hi Winter," was all Ruby managed before she was willingly dragged into a deep kiss with the other girl, making her blush furiously.

Winter made her breathless, quite literally.

"Mmm…" she said, after pulling away from the young redhead in her grasp, "I like surprising you. See, it's good for me too - you get a surprise and I get a kiss from  _my_ very best girlfriend."

Ruby wanted so desperately to just stand her ground and say she was dating Weiss too, that she wasn't her own girlfriend, that she was so, so sorry. It really frustrated her, because she just couldn't put what she wanted to say into words.

More than anything, Ruby was afraid of Winter's reaction and where that reaction would lead her. Yang's words gave her comfort, but not courage to confess to the Schnee sisters. She stared in the distance, emotionless look in her eyes.

Winter's keen eyes of course quickly noticed that. "Something wrong, cookie?"  _Wait, what? Why did I just call her "cookie"? Eh, can't be fixed anymore, I guess._

The nickname snapped Ruby out of her thoughts. "What did you call me?"

Winter repeated the word, silently, but clearly. "Cookie."

In that moment, Ruby's fear vanished and she practically jumped on her girlfriend, entwining their lips together in another deep kiss. No longer was she afraid of Winter's reaction, of Weiss' reaction, of her own reaction, even. She just wanted to shout to the world: "Winter and Weiss are the best girlfriends ever!" But then the kiss ended as Ruby had to get some air and her anxiety came back with a force.

"Mhmm, you've become quite a good kisser, cookie. Did you practice on someone?"

"Yes!" was what Ruby wanted and almost said, but when she opened her mouth, all that came out was "Uh, n-no? Who could I p-practice on? Yang's m-my sister so that'd be w-wrong, Blake is… Blake and Weiss… Weiss…" Ruby lost herself while remembering the previous night when a certain heiress found her in their dorm room all alone and the passionate makeout session that heiress initiated without words, with a simple grab of the hand and a gentle pull. As startled as Ruby was at the moment of the unexpected touch, the moment those beautiful lips touched hers, all problems seemed to disappear. After Weiss let go of Ruby's hand, each girl felt a pair of foreign arms gently caressing their sides, momentarily straying perhaps just a little too far off course, to which the girls always responded with a startled yelp but then looked at each other in the eye, smiling momentarily before continuing the session.

Ruby felt her arm shaking, which made her come back to reality and see that Winter was looking at her with the faintest trace of anger in her eyes.

"What about Weiss, Ruby?" The tone was the no-bull one and Ruby knew that she had to answer something.

"Umm, you know, I don't know how you'd react to me kissing your sister and all."

 _I wonder how she reacted when she saw us kissing, but I'm guessing it'd be something similar. Not that it matters since that girl has no chance in hell at getting you._ Winter hid all the anger from her face and cheerfully said: "Oh, that's rich! So you think  _I_ , Winter Schnee, would be jealous because my girlfriend practiced kissing on my sister?"  _Of course I'd be. And if you did kiss her, then…_

"Uh, umm, eh, no, not at all!" Ruby quickly answered, scratching the back of her head while blushing intensely. "How could I ever think anything like that… Haha, nope! Not this girl," She said, pointing a thumb of her other hand at herself.

Winter looked at Ruby's weak try to get away with it.  _So you did kiss her. Peculiar. Do you two date too? Behind my back? Then again…_  An evil smirk ran across Winter's face before she pressed another kiss on the younger girl's mouth. "Well, anyway, nice seeing you here, I have to go now. Be a good girl, cookie." Saying that, she quickly left the bush and left behind a dumbfounded Ruby.

_Weiss knows I'm dating Ruby, and I'm pretty sure Ruby is dating Weiss too. Most interesting turn of events. Then again, I have a plan for you, missy. Hopefully my sister will agree with it and we can have some sisterly fun._

Thoughts like that raced through Winter's mind as she was sending a message to Weiss' scroll.

_Meet me where you snooped after me._

Winter took the path to the workshop, observing the academy grounds for the first time since she arrived there. She never paid too much heed to her surroundings, but for some reason that day she felt like it. She noticed the perfectly kept grass that was towered upon by tons of beautiful flowers and she was toying with the thought of making a bouquet and sending it to Ruby anonymously. It'd be a win-win situation for Winter, since if her sister didn't agree to her plan, Weiss would get angry, which always brought a smile to Winter's face, or…

The buzzer of her scroll went off.

_I don't know why you need me there, but I'll be there in 5._

_Good, sis_ , Winter thought.  _You remember. Now I am absolutely sure._  A victorious smirk adorned the younger Schnee's beautiful pale face as she restarted the walk.

* * *

Weiss was very intrigued by the sudden request her sister sent her way. She didn't know what to make of it, but held the faintest trace of hope that Winter finally saw the light and wanted to bridge the gap between the two sisters. She'd probably never ask anything from her sister again if she would want to make their relationship a real sisterly one.

Weiss never felt like she needed a sincere, affectionate sister. She was used to doing everything alone since the day she was born. But something changed. Something changed when Weiss got to Beacon and that adorably cute dolt almost destroyed her Dust supply by being careless. And somehow Weiss got on the same team as her  _and_ her sister, the happy-go-lucky bad pun maker with a very impressive cleavage that left the self-conscious Weiss feeling very inadequate.

There was just something in the way those two interacted with each other. They'd bicker at one another just like Weiss and Winter, but it was obvious to even the least observant eye that they didn't mean to insult each other. They'd fight, even physically, with each other all the time, yet there was no venom behind the words said and the punches thrown. They were sisters that loved each other immensely. And Weiss hated them for it. In the beginning, at least.

The longer she watched the two sisters lovingly fight each other, the more she realized that she hated them because she wanted to experience the same stuff with Winter. Well, not the fistfight bits, but the playful bickering and help they offered to one another, never letting the other feel alone. The feeling of being accepted, of being someone's friend or, in case of Ruby, being someone's girlfriend was so alien to Weiss, and yet she yearned for it without knowing. She'd probably never realize it if not for that cute dolt she called her girlfriend.

That's why she responded to Winter so quickly. Weiss was determined to bring her sister closer, to stop being her enemy, no matter what it took.  _Also,_  she thought to herself,  _let's not forget that we're both dating the same girl. Full and complete reconciliation might be out of the question, but even one step in that direction is a good thing._

The Schnee heiress looked around the room, checking if she had everything she needed.  _My favourite dress/combat skirt combo - check. Myrtenaster - check. Emergency Dust Revolver refills - check. Scroll - check. I guess that's all. Now, chin up, be graceful, smile and show Winter that you aren't intimidated by her attitude. Show her you're her equal._  With that in mind, she left the dorm room and made her way to the workshop where she caught Winter kissing Ruby the other day.

* * *

Ruby was still sitting in the bush, exactly as she was when Winter went away, perplexed.  _Why did Winter leave so quickly? D-Did I say something wrong? Did I… Oum damn it, did I somehow manage to tell her I'm dating Weiss too?_ She slapped her forehead after realizing she probably did just that and bolted out of the bush, searching for Winter.  _How hard is it to find a white-haired, twin-ponytailed, knee-weakeningly sassy and beautiful girl on Beacon Academy campus?_

It turned out to be pretty hard in the end. She was bolting from one end of the campus to the other, using her semblance to cover long distances quickly, but found no trace of the aforementioned girl.

She did manage to stumble upon Weiss, though. Even though it might have been a bad idea, she stopped to talk to her. Or, to put it more precisely, tackle her into a hug and perhaps a little more. In that moment, Winter was no longer on her mind.

"Heya, Weiss!"

Before the heiress could react, Ruby's arms were already closed around her waist and Ruby's face was nuzzling Weiss' back from behind.

"Hello, Ruby," Weiss answered while gently caressing the slender arms encircling her waist. She even blushed slightly at the thought that someone might see them.

"Ruby," she then said, "mind if I ask you what you're doing here, bolting from wherever to some other wherever?"

"Nope, I don't mind," the younger girl purred, her head slightly higher now, chin resting on Weiss' left shoulder.

"Do you mind answering, then?", she asked with faked slight annoyance. She just couldn't bring herself to not be happy around the lovely dolt.

"I was looking for you," Ruby said, which was not a  _complete_  lie. She didn't know she was searching for either Schnee sister until she stumbled upon the older one. With that, Ruby broke the embrace and quickly went to the other side of her girlfriend and gave her a small kiss. "To wish you luck in whatever you're doing and wherever you're going."

Weiss blushed a shade of crimson that was at least equal to Ruby's cloak. "Thank you," she managed to breathe out.

* * *

The two lovers failed to notice that they were very close to the workshop. And very close to that workshop, a certain twin-ponytailed girl was looking at them.  _I knew it!_

Winter wasn't even angry at this point. Sure, she was not very happy that Ruby was cheating on her, let alone with her own  _sister_. But both girls knew that now and that might have been enough to persuade Weiss to accept Winter's plan.

When Winter noticed the two girls parted with a goodbye kiss, she quickly went into the workshop, to the same room she was in when she stole Ruby's first kiss. Her sister entered soon after.

"Hello, Weiss."

"Winter."

"I am glad you came here."

"Mind explaining why I had to come all the way down here instead of just telling me what you have outright?"

A glint of mischief jumped through Winter's eyes. "Weiss," she said with a low voice, "I know about you two."

Weiss didn't even act surprised. "Figures. Just like I know about you two."

"And I know that you know since the day you found out." No venom in the words, just stating a fact.

"Is this why you dragged me here?"

"No, that was for a very different reason."

"And that reason is?"

"Weiss," Winter said, "I have a cunning plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about not posting for a while. I was a bit busy. Have 5 chapters today, then!
> 
> Comments are, as always, appreciated!


	11. Chapter 11

Weiss was looking at her sister in disbelief.  _She didn't just ask me to..._

"Why would you do something like that?"

"Oh, you know," Winter winked, still smiling, "some sibling fun. Don't you think it'd be fun?"

"I don't know, Winter. I feel it's very wrong."  _Though this_ is _the chance for the two of us to build a bridge._

"Eh, when has wrong ever stopped a Schnee?"

"Don't even joke about that, Winter."

"All right, all right. Jeez. It was meant as a lighthearted joke. You know how I feel about that."

Weiss puffed her cheeks, but didn't say anything.

"You're cute when you puff your cheeks. Do you do that with Ruby too? Does she act all adorable and stuff as she does when I yank her in the bushes or wherever?" A smirk the size of her face played on Winter's face.

Weiss couldn't believe her ears. "You… Are… Evil."

" _I'm_  evil? How exactly?"

"Easy. You come from nowhere and take Ruby away from me after I tried to gain courage for a few months already. You steal her first kiss from me. You yank her in the bushes. All that. But yet," a victorious smirk crept up on Weiss' face, "in the end, she always comes to me and tells me how much she likes me."

"Oh?" Winter's eyes widened for a moment. "Did she ever tell you that you're the best girlfriend ever, even if you make her knees weak? Because she did say that to me, you know?"

Weiss' lips thinned into a barely visible line. "You're lying."

"Nope. Ask her, if you want. Or," Winter started her no-crap talk, "we can have some fun with her without her knowing. What do you say? Come on, can you  _not_  be Ice Queen for once?"

"Why does everybody keep calling me that?" To say Weiss was irritated with the nickname was an understatement. Oddly enough, Ruby was the only one Weiss hanged out with a lot that never called her that. And Weiss was very thankful for it.

"Well, maybe because you totally act like one. Loosen up a bit and have fun with someone that isn't Ruby. Come on. I know I haven't been the best sibling in the world, but I'm giving you a chance to bring our sisterly bond closer together," Winter said, reaching out a hand tentatively.

 _She is right. It's just harmless fun and a chance for us to become real sisters, like Ruby and Yang._  She hesitated for another moment, even blushing a little, before accepting the offered hand. "Let's try it then, sister."  _I'm not letting you steal another first from me, though. And I'm going to go to Ruby right now and puff my cheeks at her and show her I can be adorable too. And I'll find a way to make her knees weaker than you do. I'll do that because that's what Weiss Schnee does!_

* * *

Completely oblivious to the tension surrounding the Schnee sisters for the past few days, more concerned about not disappointing either of them rather than watching their interactions, Ruby sat on her bed, twiddling a pencil around in her fingers whilst scouring her brain for the answer to the question laid before her.

How did she know what direction Nevermores flew in the winter? How would that help her in the future, at all?

"South. It's warmer, and important knowledge for both huntresses and huntresses in training, Ruby."

Ruby almost screamed from the sudden interruption, unaware that there was even another presence in the dorm of team RWBY, and had to take a second to catch her breath. Peeking up from the covers which were hastily thrown onto her head in fright, Ruby identified her previous assailant as none other than Blake Belladonna, resident ninja and book worm.

"Did you mean to say that? Were you thinking out loud again?" Blake enquired, head tilted and an eyebrow raised.

"Haha… I uh… Wow, Blake, you scared the life out of me. I uh, guess I was?"

Blake hummed, and proceeded to sit down on her own bunk, pulling a book out of nowhere. An impressive ability, clearly. Her amber eyes scanned the pages of the book, devouring the tale held within, and became completely isolated to the world around her. Ruby knew that once the faunus was on a roll, there was no way to get her to stop.

Except for a bucket of water - but Yang still had the bruises to testify against the idea of a bucket of water being a good one.

Sighing, collecting the pencil she dropped, Ruby turned back to her piece of homework set by Professor Port. Grimm breeding habits was quite easily one of  _the_ most boring topics taught in the whole school. They never learned this in Signal academy! It was all about finding the weak points, and learning to fight, not all this boring 'ecology' this and 'food chain' that. Somewhat angrily scribbling down the answer to the question, handily provided by Blake with a side of heart attack, Ruby huffed once again and let her face hit the paper.

"Something the matter?" Blake asked the girl, letting her eyes rise from the neatly flowing story to the not-so-neatly flowing state of Ruby's bed wherein the girl herself lay.

"Agh... It's just… I don't even know. Can we go out and spar or something?"

"Mmm… I'm rather enthralled by this book, so I'll have to pass on that offer."

"Pleeease Blake? Just a quick one? It'll be great, I promise!"

"No means no, Ruby. Apologies."

Ruby kicked her legs like a little girl. She felt so energetic but drained at the same time. At the one hand, she had two girlfriends. Fantastic! A reason to wake up at a reasonable time at the weekend! But on the other hand, if they found out about each other, they would hate her forever, and hang her at the gallows! Probably. Ruby reckoned that the Schnees still hanged people, maybe even drew and quartered them.

"Go and burn off your energy with Yang. She's down at the gym, last I checked."

Ruby's facial expression instantly improved. "You're right! Thanks Blake, seeya later!"

And no sooner than the goodbye was given, Ruby flew out the door in the trail of beautiful rose petals. Blake rolled her eyes, and continued reading the story.  _Poor Dr Grey_ , she thought,  _the reds and the blues sound like a lot of hassle to handle, especially for a woman so smart. Perhaps we're not too different._

* * *

The swaying green grass of the gardens tickled and teased at Weiss' legs, brushing the smooth white limbs as they found their way through the well kept field. The smile on Weiss' face was certainly a sight to behold, as well. It was a true, genuine smile that she wore unlike the fake facades which she beheld to members of the Schnee Dust Company board and business associates. The girl was pleased that she and Winter had finally found common ground upon which to fix their relationship, in a way which would make everything work. Winter had even gone one step further and suggested something so magnificently brilliant, that even she could not deny the younger sibling her congratulations.

For now, she saw fit to lie on the grass, under the shade, in the cool heat of late morning. A careful breeze provided background noise as it whistled and rustled its way through the leaves of the tree.

Students wandered mindlessly along the paths of Beacon's grounds, often coupled with their teams, family and friends. Closing her eyes, Weiss could almost pick out the different things they were talking about, but even her hearing wasn't that good. All in all, the immediate surroundings put the Schnee to peace and lulled her into a light nap.

One thing she certainly wasn't counting on was a hyperactive ball of red energy slamming into her side, and sending the two entities tumbling several meters.

"Weiss!"

"Ruby!" Weiss admonished, "What have I told you about tackling me with that silly semblance of yours?!"

"My semblance isn't silly," Ruby whined, "It's perfectly fine! And it's super cool! Don't say  _you_ wouldn't want to run around really fast. It's awesome."

Weiss had to admit, it did poke at the childish urges locked away deep inside the icy fortress of her heart. "Not at all," she said with a scowl. A light one at that - she could never be genuinely angry at Ruby. "It'd be nice if you did happen to stop crashing into me at the speed of sound, though."

"Okay, it uh, won't happen again!" Her cheery smile had returned, before she looked around and quickly asked "By the way - Weiss? Have you seen Yang anywhere? Blake told me she was at the gym, but I had a look, and she wasn't there, and I'm super bored and want somebody to talk to or to play with or to fight with or to build weapons with and-"

Ruby's ramblings were cut off with a manicured finger to her lips. "I have not seen her most of the day, no. I'm afraid you'll have to go and ask somebody else. Perhaps she is with your father, or somebody else."

Her eyes lit up with an impending idea. "Thanks Weiss! You're the best - have I told you you're the best? 'Cus you totally are, and yeah, I'm gonna go look for Yang now, see you later!"

As quickly as the girl appeared, she was gone again, flying away in a storm of red rose petals. Weiss swore she heard a couple of childish squeals, and apologies as the miniature blizzard flew through the sparse crowd on the paths. A quick sigh was all she had to offer at the spectacle, and she lay back down on the grass, intent on catching the morning nap which had so easily evaded her in the form of Ruby Rose. Closing her eyes once again, she was about ready to stand up and punch somebody as  _another_ voice interrupted her attempted slumber.

"She's certainly cute, isn't she? I can see why we both fell for her."

"Winter. Please. I just want a morning nap. Is that  _really_ too much to ask for?"

Cracking open one eye, Weiss spotted Winter stood above her wearing her normal dress and rocking her signature double-ponytail. A smirk played on her lips, though it wasn't a mocking kind.

"Well, I would like somebody to talk to. And as it seems our little rose happens to be busy, I thought to myself, 'Why not my dear, dependable sister?' So here I am. I hope my presence is not that intrusive."

Weiss mumbled something along the lines of 'No, It's fine' and simply rolled over. She loved her sister of course, but  _dust_ she could be annoying at times. She wouldn't necessarily count this encounter as wholly annoying, but it was pulled at the frayed ends of her patience regardless.

Weiss' previous statement of 'not wholly annoying' was retracted rather quickly and republished as 'mostly' when the incessant poking at her sides began. Winter knew the easiest way to grab the heiress' attention was to just keep poking her, because she caved rather easily according to past experience living in the Schnee manor.

It didn't take long for the cave-in to begin.

"Winter. What, dare I ask, do you want?"

"I want to talk about stuff."

"And what, in this context, would 'stuff' be?"

"I don't know. What's it like to be a huntress, say?"

Weiss actually had to stop and think to herself for a moment. What, in her opinion,  _was_ it like to be a huntress? Sure, there was lots of education and teaching involved, but that was also matched by the sheer volume of practical assignments, Grimm slaying, and undercover crime-hunting - not that the last part was actually set by the academy, mind.

"It's interesting, to say the least. You meet lots of different people - some you grow to like, some you hate from the beginning, and all of them from different walks of life. It's truly fascinating, I reckon. The bonds of the teams are stronger than steel, and the thrill of the battle is exhausting and exhilarating. I'm afraid it's hard to put into words, dear sister, but I reckon if you asked Ruby, it would end up being something along the lines of-" her voice raised quite drastically in pitch - "'It's totally awesome!' or 'There's cool weapons and… stuff!'"

Winter giggled at the impression. "That does sound pretty befitting of her, to be honest. Tell me, is she ever away from that amazing scythe of hers?"

"Hm. Now that I think about it, she carries it literally everywhere - she even stores it at our bed-side sometimes, instead of the lockers, which I'm pretty sure isn't allowed. There was this one time though, on our trip to Mount Glenn, where she lost it as she fell through a sinkhole of some kind. Blake had to carry it all the way to her as we fought our way through the tunnels to find her, and oh my, she was complaining all the way along. 'This thing is so heavy! How does she carry this? Ruby must be ridiculously strong!' It was rather… humorous to say the least."

Winter had stopped giggling and was having a miniature laughing fit. "Ahaha - oh my, you were right. Being a huntress does sound like a lot of work indeed."

"Carrying Ruby's scythe around? Yes. Impossible." Her face was set completely straight.

"Has she let you pick it up before? She let me do so the other day - it is  _absurdly_ heavy."

"No. She's been wanting to get her hands on Myrtenaster for a while," Weiss said, gesturing to the shining rapier sheathed at her hip, "Perhaps we could sneak it out of her sight if I let her touch Myrtenaster for a while."

"Hehe - be careful making sure she doesn't attach a flamethrower to it, or a gun, while you aren't looking!"

The sisters burst out into laughter, having long forgone standing up in favour of just staring upwards as their chests heaved as a product of the banter. Weiss hadn't been this happy in a long time. What would make her day, though, would be a flustered Ruby - Weiss put that on her mental to-do list, and settled down alongside Winter.

"Oh my, is that the time? I'll have to be going, sister, lunch calls and mother would be most displeased if I were not to show up. I'll be seeing you!"

Winter skipped off, flanked by flowers, on the beautiful path back to the dining hall. Perhaps now, finally, after all the madness, Weiss could get her well deserved rest. Stretching her limbs, and popping a couple bones here and there, Weiss snuggled into the comfiest position she could beneath the tree. Her eyes lazily fluttered shut, and soon enough, she was drifting off to -

"Heya Weiss! 'Ya seen Ruby around anywhere? I can't find her, Blakey says she's lookin' for me, and I can't -"

"DUST  _DAMN IT YANG!_ "

Yang flinched at the angry cry and looked at Weiss, perplexed. "Jeez, Ice Queen. Why are you so yangry?"

Weiss shut her eyes while exhaling slowly. "That nickname and pun certainly didn't really help matters."

"Something wrong, Ice Q… I mean Weiss?"

"Nothing except everybody pestering me when all I want is a nap in the sun. Ruby went to look for you around the campus, by the way."

"Oh. Well, thanks for the info, shewolf!"

Yang waved and tried to storm off, and Weiss would like nothing more than that, but as she waved nonchalantly, she heard the nickname. Her expression darkened. "What did you just call me?"

Yang's eyes widened in newfound fear at the killer look in Weiss' eyes. It actually made her uncomfortable.  _Why did I have to poke the wolf?_  "Uhh… Err… Shewolf... Why?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"Uhm… Well, Ruby told me she was, um, seeing you? Sorry."

"YANG XIAO LONG, IF YOU EVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN, I WILL…"

"Welp, as fitting as the nickname is, Xiao Long out!" With those words, Yang disappeared as quickly as she could. Weiss was looking in the direction the blonde took for a while before lying down again, though this time not trying to take a nap since she was way too angry for anything like that. Instead she was looking at the sky, trying to make out shapes in the clouds as a way of calming her down.

* * *

Not long after having resumed her search for Yang, Ruby happened to stumble upon a man of strong build and blonde hair - her father. It looked like he was just having a stroll around the campus, as were many people. No particularly interesting battles seem to be set for the day, and so there was little reason not to go outside, relax, have a little fun.

So, initiating the normal "I've just seen someone I know" procedure, Ruby got close down to the ground, legs at a low angle and hands brushing the floor. Barely a moment later, she took off in a signature blizzard of red rose petals, and it took less than a second for the speeding red blur to then proceed to crash directly into the side of her father.

The poor man's only warning was a squeal, which sounded something like "Dad".

Opening his eyes, he took a brief second to decide whether or not he was dead, but Ruby promptly interrupted him by sticking her mug into his face.

"Hey dad! Whatcha been doing? Something fun? Exciting? Boring dad stuff?"

Huffing and rolling his eyes, the man got back to his feet with a smirk. The man stood much, much taller than Ruby, towering at well over six foot five. "The usual," he said, "I've just been looking around for you two scamps all day. Seriously, we haven't spent much time together, have we? What kind of festival even is this?!"

Ruby twirled around on her foot and head in one direction like a ballet dancer. "Uh, a totally super awesome festival where you get to watch  _me_ kick some butt in the tournament? It's great!"

Taiyang hummed in agreement, and began to walk alongside her. "So what have  _you_ been up to, squirt?" Yang used the same sort of nicknames with Ruby, often referring to her height, being only fifteen and three quarters years old. 'The three quarters is important,' she insisted.

"I've not actually been doing an awful lot lately, except for that one spar with Weiss… and when I disassembled sweetheart here a few days ago… not much else, really. Hanging out with everyone else? I mean, that totally counts, right?"

A small chuckle escaped Taiyang's throat. "Sure it does, sweetie."

Ruby huffed and turned on her heel towards Taiyang with a pout. "Don't you  _sweetie_ me! I'm way taller than before, now, and I'm also super good with Crescent Rose, so I could totally kick your butt if I wanted to!"

Standing on the tips of her toes didn't make her stature, at five foot two, any more imposing than before. If anything, the pout she wore on her face made her incredibly adorable.

"And besides! I drink  _milk!_ "

The last part certainly wasn't a secret. A mysterious yet persistent lack of milk in the fridge at their home in Patch would prove so much. Blake also happened to like milk, and so in her new environment, miniature fights erupted over milk and ended as silly slap-fights or absurd insults.

'Your scythe is oversized!'

'Your swords are tiny and weak!'

'Your hair is too messy in the mornings!'

'You never even get  _up_ in the mornings!'

'All I want is my morning coffee! Why do you two take it upon yourselves to drink all the milk in our fridge, and disallow me my one luxury? Stop being so childish!'

So on and so forth.

It wasn't long until the chattering pair stumbled upon the gyms which Beacon provided for the students - the arenas and the gym were very close to one another, the arenas for one-on-one battles whilst the gym was more used just to train general characteristics. Yang especially spent a large amount of her time here, both to train herself and blow off some steam. More than once had she seen most of team CRDL walk out of this building with questionable bruises and worrying scorch marks.

When asked about her muscles, Yang was a lot more open than Ruby and her little abdominal definition - she would actively try to find opportunities to show off her perfectly toned six pack and killer biceps. This would usually make Blake especially flustered, who was not quite as nearly comfortable with such close and intimate contact.

Ruby idly wondered if Weiss had any kind of muscle at all, skating around the battlefield like a graceful swan. She probably had great legs.

"So, missy, are you going to stand there gawking all day or are you going to head on in?"

Snapped straight out of her daydream, Ruby spun towards her father, who still wore a silly grin on his face. Nothing extreme, like Yang's full shit eating "I just made a pun" grins.

"Ahaha - uh, yeah, let's go."

The first thing that Ruby noticed upon stepping in, was that the room was completely empty. Deserted. Desolated. Utter silence.

The second thing she noticed was that she wasn't entirely sure what she was doing in the first place.

"You reckon Yang's in here?"

_Oh, right._

Heading around the gym, Ruby looked in every little nook and cranny the place offered, to see if the blonde brawler lay anywhere odd. Unsurprisingly, in such a deserted place, she didn't end up finding her. Huffing and sitting down, Taiyang lifted her chin up to look at him. "Hey, what's gotten you down all of a sudden?"

"Well, you see, I happen to be dating both daughters of the Schnee Dust Company's director," is what she  _wanted_ to say. She didn't, of course, because that would be ridiculous.

She, however, was the technical word.

"Yo! Rubles, you in here?" A head of flowing blonde hair turned the corner, just out of Taiyang's sight. "There you are, found you, 'ya little scamp! How are things going with your girlfriends, Winter and Weiss?"

Yang could have sworn no person alive has ever jumped as high as Ruby in that moment. The thought of it amused her to no end. "YANG! WHY WOULD YOU… DAD'S HERE!" The look Ruby had on her face was her best imitation of Weiss' killer face. However, with her sheer lack of any evil, Ruby looked more like an insulted child than a thoroughly pissed off girl.

Yang's smile didn't falter for even a fraction of second. Even more, she made her most innocent eyes while still smiling ear to ear. "Oh? Isn't something this beautiful something you tell your parents the soonest you can? I mean, it's not every day one gets to see a person dating one, much less  _two_  children of the most powerful family in Remnant."

Taiyang watched the two girls go on and on for a while, all the time smiling. The smile turned into a snicker, which then turned into a chuckle, which further turned into silent laughter and it would probably evolve even further. Alas, it was not meant to be.

"... And I was about to tell him about it!"

"Well, sorry, sis, I thought you already di- hahahahaha!" Yang started laughing wildly. "I can't take it anymore, Ruby! I am, oh, so- hahaha, so sorry!"

"Yang, this isn't funny!" In that moment, Ruby heard her father's light laughter just before Yang erupted into a laugh so viciously loud Ruby could swear someone's eardrums might end up pierced. The reaper's gaze was fixed on her father, though. Her father, whose lips were slightly parted, revealing the pearly white teeth underneath, his eyes gently shut from the laugh. Realization suddenly swept across Ruby's face. "DAD!"

"So sorry, squirt, but Yang came to me earlier and told me. Then I got an idea of having some fun with you. So blame your old man, not your sister. But the opportunity was too golden to pass up."

"But dad! It's not funny! I really don't know what to do about it!"

Yang kept laughing her butt off on the floor while Taiyang was talking through chuckles. "I am so, so sorry, honey, I really am. I know it's hard for you, but you're worrying too much."

"What do you mean?"

"Sweetie, I saw the two girls act very differently in your presence as opposed to when you weren't there. If you're afraid of staying alone, I'm pretty sure it won't happen. Even if they find out about each other. I mean it."

Ruby looked down on the floor. Taiyang's smile vanished and he moved closer to Ruby. He held her chin and made her look him in the eye. "Trust me, honey, I know what it's like. If you want me to, I could tell you. Actually, to both of you. I owe you that much as your father. Though I understand why you wouldn't want to hear my story, so just know I'm here for you if you need advice, okay?"

When Ruby gave her father a gentle nod, he continued. "Now, since you are both here… Do me a small favour."

Yang has meanwhile recuperated and was standing next to her sister, watching the whole ordeal while holding a hand on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby spoke. "What can we do for you?"

"Spar for me. I want to see how my daughters match up against each other."

There was a glimmer shooting through Ruby's eyes as Taiyang uttered the words. A determined smile crept back on her face and in an instant, she turned towards Yang.

"Bring it on, sister."

Yang replied with a happy voice. "Glad you got your smile back, sis. Now do your best. Which still won't be enough to beat me, but hey, might as well go all out." She winked.

"Like hell I'm losing against you!"

Watching the two huntresses in training jump to their battle positions, Taiyang felt pride creeping up on his mind.  _I have been truly blessed._  He looked up at the ceiling.  _Raven, Summer, thank you for giving me these two._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading another chapter! We'll soon be caught up with the story as it is on fanfiction.net.


	12. Chapter 12

"Dad."

Taiyang was snapped out of his stupor, and his eyes met two rather expectant looking girls, eager to get fighting.

"So, are you going to count down, or what? 'Cus, you know, we need someone to count down."

Internally facepalming, Taiyang said "Ah - yeah, right. I was literally about to do that."

Yang rolled her eyes and walked off to her starting position, on the opposite end of the large space to Ruby.

"So how do I do this?"

Yang whipped around and looked at Taiyang with eyes of disbelief. "Are you  _serious_?" she asked, "You literally have to go '3-2-1 go', and that's it. It's not hard, dad. Have you forgotten the sparring rules? It's not like you're a retired Hunter or anything," Yang winked at that and received her father's smile in return. Turning back on her heel towards Ruby, who had already gotten Crescent Rose off of its holster, she watched the bulky rifle transform into the huge, over-sized scythe. Easily the most intimidating part, Yang found, was when the segmented pieces of metal of the blade itself unfolded and clicked into position, with a 'clackclackclack' that said to her "You're about to get chopped to pieces."

Of course, she was Yang Xiao Long, and there was no way that she'd lose to her little sister.

"Right. Uh," Taiyang began, quite clearly seeing the tension filling the room, ready to be released in a flurry of blows. "Three?"

Yang bent her knees ever so slightly.

"Two.."

Ruby's grip on Crescent Rose tightened.

"One…"

Both girls' eyes narrowed.

"Go!"

And like a bolt of lightning, Ruby had instantly shot off from her position in a streak of red, heading directly towards Yang. Said girl was also making her way forwards, somewhat cautiously, but with Ember Celica cocked and ready, she was more than ready to meet the girl in gauntlet-to-blade battling.

Sure enough, not even a few moments later, Yang was beset upon by Ruby, who was initiating her secret "Rosy Tornado" move, which quite literally involved circling her opponent and striking them from all kinds of invisible angles. Not only did her semblance of super speed make it incredibly difficult to spot her, but it also made her strikes that much more lethal.

A woosh of a rose and the singing of the curved blade alerted Yang to the girl's position, and she deftly ducked, kicked the feet out from under the girl, and launched herself into the offensive. Ruby, having just been tripped over, was recovering with moderate speed, but not quite fast enough. All she heard was a whistle and the world exploded around her, as punch after punch from Ember Celica produced the explosive flares  _she helped her sister design_.

Angling her sweetheart downwards, Ruby pulled the trigger and was promptly pulled up by the heavy kick of the weapon, sending her flying. Yang had by now stopped her barrage of buckshot, and was taking the fleeting opportunity to attach a new belt of shells to her gauntlets. Pulling down hard on the trigger again, Ruby was barreling towards the floor, and with another spent round, she spun vertically.

Barely avoiding the dangerous attack from Ruby in an inelegant roll backwards, both girls were back on their feet, and glaring non-malicious daggers at one-another. Each of them were analyzing the other's subtle gestures in excruciating detail. A tiny movement of the arm, the slightest tilt of the scythe, shifting of the weight…

Yang exploded into action, tearing down the rebuilt tension with rings of buckshot which whistled their way towards Ruby. Ruby too had shot off at this point, running around the side of the makeshift arena, still on constant look-out for-

A sharp pain bloomed in her face, and a great force knocked her straight off of her knees, flying into a small pile of somewhat expensive looking gym equipment.

_No! It was a distraction!_

With little time to mull over her mistake, Ruby had begrudgingly gotten back onto her feet where a smirking sister was casually walking towards her.

"Haa- come to finish off the job, h-huh?" She clutched at her side and tried to explode Yang with her mind or something, but nothing was quite working. Contrary to popular opinion, running around with her semblance whilst swinging Crescent Rose took a hell of a toll on her body.

"Ah, well, if you say 'I surrender and Yang Xiao Long is the bestest and sexiest sister ever', then I'll consider not having to completely wreck you!"

Taiyang was watching, completely bemused. He almost missed the arrival of Mrs Schnee, as well as Weiss and Winter - the former of whom had given up trying to nap a long time ago. "Are they fighting, Mr. Xiao Long?" asked Mrs Schnee, who took up residence on a bench. Winter stood next to her, leaning against the wall with a foot on it, and Weiss stood up straight, watching the spectacle before her with a slight frown and folded arms.

"Yeah - they're doing a great job of it too, my girls!" His open mouthed grin was evidence enough of the fact that he didn't mind watching his two daughters spar with each other at all.

Suddenly, a shot rang out and bounced off of the walls of the room, followed by a shriek of "You've  _got_ to be kidding me!"

Yang was not at all happy with the fact that, once again, Ruby had taken flight with her scythe, and had so easily avoided being pummeled. "I should have just mercilessly tickled her, until she begged me to stop, but no, we gotta be difficult about it, don't we?" Yang's ramblings to 'nobody in particular' were cut off by a sharp cry as the blunt end of Crescent Rose found it's way into her stomach and winded her.

"Oof!"

"H-Haha! Score one to Ruby Rose, better watch your back sis!"

Yang's eyes slowly melted from a beautiful lilac into a terrifying red, and she stood up with more conviction than ever. "Oh, but  _should_ I? You want to fight? Let's do it!"

 _Ah. Err. I didn't think about that._ Yang's glowing blonde hair, flicking with embers, assured the young girl that Yang had in fact had her semblance activated, and she was about ready to beat the younger girl into the ground for denying her tickle fight. "WellwhilethisislovelyI'drathernotdiebye!"

Just as Ruby's feet left the ground, instead of disappearing in a cloud of rose petals like she had so many other times during their bout, she was instead jerked backwards by her cape, held in place by an unknown force.

An unknown force with red eyes, flaming hair, and flying towards her with a fist reared in fire.

The expected blow was certainly not soft - not that she had expected it to be - but, wow, Ruby hadn't quite remembered her sister's punches hurting just so much. It probably didn't help that Yang was pretty much as strong as she could possibly be, and that she herself was low on aura already, but hey. Little details.

The Schnees, minus Weiss, looked on with horror apparent upon their faces. "She'll kill her!" Winter cried. Weiss knew that Yang wouldn't do anything of the sort, no matter what, and Winter was just overreacting.

Below her, Ruby was coughing, and Yang's arm was raised once again. Her eyes were still deep pools of crimson, and her hair was still set ablaze, and with a low voice and hard gaze, she said "I'll ask again. Say 'Yang Xiao Long is the bestest and sexiest sister ever', and I'll consider sparing you."

Head lolling to the side, she saw the mortified Schnees, the somewhat worried Taiyang, and the completely bored Weiss. She knew she couldn't surrender before the Schnees, so she had to find some way-

"Too slow."

Yang's hands dived…

...straight to Ruby's sides.

Ruby let out an ear-splitting squeal as her sides were mercilessly assaulted by feeling fingers. Pushing deeper and deeper into her sides, the girl wriggled around helplessly on the floor, crying in laughter.

 _I knew it._ Weiss facepalmed - she had been with the two long enough that Yang wouldn't actually hurt her little sister, but any kind of physical tickling assault was fair game. The other day was proof enough, when Taiyang arrived, and the two had once again divulged into a tickle fight, this one much more one-sided in the calming Yang's favour.

Looking to her side, Weiss saw her mother and sister's faces - they were  _priceless._  Did they think that Yang would  _actually_ finish her off? How naive they were. Mrs Schnee looked fairly confused, whilst Winter was huffing in a sigh of relief. Oh, how Weiss would poke fun at her later. Taiyang simply looked on with a smile, and he wasn't surprised in the slightest. He had stood up and started to clap.

Ruby was completely breathless at this point - she couldn't feel her sides anymore, and all her senses just seemed to dulled and mixed together. She was vaguely aware of the sisterly figure straddling her who had still yet to cease her relentless assault, but Ruby wasn't even sure what was happening anymore.

Then, form the corner of her eyes, she noticed the two Schnee sisters and their mother standing next to her father and her face instantly turned white. Yang noticed the change in Ruby's behaviour and looked behind her. She instantly recognized the problem and let go of Ruby. After lifting herself off the motionless and expressionless Ruby, she offered said girl a hand to help her rise.

* * *

Blake considered herself a fairly unlucky person, having not gotten the best lot in life. She had very little memory of her family, the White Fang brought her up harshly, and nowadays she was subjected to Yang's relentless puns. She wasn't being a pessimist in her eyes, but rather a realist; she was just a generally unlucky person - Black cats  _were_ the sign of bad luck, after all.

Never could she have been so unlucky as to be paired against  _Nora_ in the tournament, however.

It was one thing, fighting a foe like Cardin who had a weapon slightly bigger than your own but without an awful lot of skill using it, especially when it wasn't particularly lethal. Fighting against someone who had a  _much bigger_ and  _much more lethal_ weapon however, was a different story entirely, not particularly helped by the fact that the ginger wielding it was particularly lithe in movement even whilst lugging around her huge hammer, Magnhild.

Grenade after grenade exploded in plumes of pink all around her, whilst she struggled to maintain her bearing on the shorter girl - the ground shook like the force of Yang's Ember Celica, but amplified by a magnitude much greater. A magnitude more terrifying, a magnitude that said "Well, I heard you needed an earthquake - have at it."

The relentless, frankly veritable  _artillery_ of fire had only stopped for a brief second, as Magnhild slowly folded from its grenade launcher form, which was terrifying enough, to it's hammer form, which much like Crescent Rose screamed "over the top". The second was long enough for Blake to weigh up her options, consider how much the hammer would hurt at point blank, formulate a plan of attack, and disappear into the shadows as an overly brazen clone took her place, heading directly towards the ginger.

Nora eagerly swung the hammer straight at the clone, the great momentum in her strike showing no signs of slowing, as the head of the weapon crashed straight through the now dispersed shadows. Little time was provided to her to look around, but the numerous hacks and slashes of a wickedly sharp sword and sheath tearing at her back told her that yes, Blake was indeed now behind her, and that silly mistake had cost her a  _lot_ of aura.

Choosing not to overstay her welcome in the danger zone, Blake's blade bent itself backwards as she shot off a round of the pistol, throwing the makeshift grapple and tugging herself along with it. Up from above was one of the girls weakest areas, she had decided, as the great effort needed to heft the sizeable hammer above her head clearly impacted heavily upon the girl's aura, and whatever poor piece of floor was below it.

Yanking her hold straight out of the roof, still falling through the air, Blake's body gracefully rolled and trained Nora into her sights, firing off every round in the admittedly small magazine. The attack, whilst not wholly futile, didn't seem to take as much effect as she would have liked, and this quickly put her on the defensive as her feet touched down and an immediate roll backwards was needed, to avoid a surprise hammer.

Nora, somewhat annoyingly to the faunus, had predicted a move like this before it had actually taken place, and was  _several_ meters closer than Blake remembered her being not long before. Split second reactions could not cover a large distance in a minute amount of time however; and only served to brace Blake as the full force of Magnhild  _smashed_ into her and left her rolling across the floor in a tumbling heap.

Searing pain shot across the whole girl's body, and she daren't look at her aura levels at all - Blake imagined that the feeling was somewhat similar to being crushed under several tons of concrete, and perhaps an airship or two, before being repeatedly slammed into the cold and unforgiving ground. Shaking arms slowly pushed the girl in black up as her foe approached; a cruel yet sickly sweet smile belying her features.  _She probably doesn't even know she looks like that._

Much the similar could be said from Nora's perspective; Blake looked a lot worse for wear than when she started, the match having dragged on for a few minutes now. Her hair was a mess, a jungle of black tangles, while her somewhat lackluster posture reflected the horrid blow she'd just received.

Leaping back into action, Blake instantly met the girl in the middle of the arena, and dealt more than a few slashes back at the ginger. Nora quite clearly understood that as giant as Magnhild was, it wasn't particularly effective at blocking two swords at once, Blake having unsheathed Gambol Shroud and now wielding both the katana and sheath in hand.

Twirling the giant weapon in her hands, Nora had effectively created a full body shield whilst simultaneously attacking the girl before her, as for Blake it proved difficult to get a hit in. Blake had to give her credit for that - not only was it a creative method of defending and attacking all at once, but it also took an immense amount of strength if Magnhild was as heavy as it looked. This heavy weapon would soon be colliding with the faunus once again lest she acted fast.

Throwing her pistol, now in a controlled form of desperation, she felt the ribbon pull taut and the click of the gun as the next round fired, directly into the ginger's head.

Amazing as aura was, a bullet to the head was still a bullet to the head, and this proved to be another sizeable chunk of Nora's seemingly endless aura reserves depleted.

_Maybe that's her semblance or something. Infinite aura and energy. Sure seems like it._

Stumbling backwards, the time Nora spent trying to regain her footing proved more than enough for Blake to take control of the fight in every aspect, going so far as to knock the poor girl around the arena with some particularly vicious hits.  _Payback,_ she thought to herself subtly, remembering the crushing blow Magnhild dealt unto her barely a few seconds earlier. The variable chain scythe effortlessly disarmed the ginger of her hammer, with ingenious use of momentum carrying not only the weapon away but Blake towards victory.

Down to but only her hands, Nora was helpless as Blake's shadow clone waned her hope to a smidgen and the real girl appeared from thin air, a devastating strike lining her torso delivered with ethereal efficiency.

Not a moment sooner, the whistle sounded, as Professor Goodwitch came upon the stage.

"As you can see, Miss Valkyrie's aura levels have dropped to the red zone," she said, prompting Blake to take a peek at how close the fight was. Nora's aura meter was flashing in red, unsurprisingly, and looking at her own, it totaled a fair amount below half, a lacking orange greeting her eyes. "This means that the winner of this bout is Blake, and she moves on to the finals."

A roar erupted from the crowd, as the large turnout of people stood up and began to clap, cheer and whistle. Blake wouldn't know, but she had to guess that it was a great spectacle to behold, the two girls fighting.

All the pressure flooded out of her body as she relaxed herself, having won a hard-fought battle with the slightly manic girl, who was currently torn between being happy for Blake's victory, and sulking for her own loss. Offering a hand, she Nora up with a smile and took a second to catch her breath.

Of course, Nora being Nora, she apparently didn't require any extra energy or oxygen like most others.

"Blake! I can't be- _lieeeveee_ you won! I was so sure I'd win, too! You're really clever with your sword-thing, you know that? It's really small but its gun  _reeaalllyy_  hurts!" Blake suddenly felt a twinge of guilt for shooting the poor girl in the head. "Like, it's so much smaller than Magnhild, but so awesome at the same time! Maybe you could teach me how to a cool ninja like yourself one day too, so I could be all like -  _mfff!_ "

Ren stood behind the girl, muffling her mouth. "That's quite enough Nora," Ren spoke kindly, as if tending to a small puppy. "I'm sure Blake is glad that you fought well and would probably like some rest."

Blake flashed the taller boy a smile of gratitude for getting the crazy hammer wielder to calm down for just a second. She wasn't wholly sure she could survive the antics the girl had to offer much longer. Ren certainly had given her a good idea, though - rest certainly sounded like a priority right now. Blake's legs felt like a substance most closely resembling jelly rather than bone, and her arms ached with strenuous movement.

She just wanted to go back to Team RWBY's dorm, flop into her bed, and have Yang read Ninjas of Love- or, maybe a  _tamer_  book, to her as she fell asleep. That could probably be arranged.

Blake may have also gone deaf, but she wouldn't be certain with the excessively loud clapping and cheering coming from the audience. There were times when Blake thanked her luck for having such good hearing, and then sometimes she wished nothing more than to just curl up and turn it all off. Perhaps it was this rotten luck that brought her to fight Nora in the first place.

After all, black cats were  _supposed_  to represent bad luck, right? Maybe Blake was a lucky black cat, though, getting good luck rather than bad; perhaps that's why Yang kept her around.

* * *

"Fuck off Scarlet; it was  _awesome_!  _She_ was awesome!"

"You've been talking about Blake's fight for the past fifteen bloody minutes, I got the point, Sun."

Sun, Scarlet and Sage sat around one of the many tables in the expansive Beacon dining hall - unofficially renamed as the site of the "Great Food War" by some. 'Some', literally just being Sun, despite his vehement insistence that there were other people who called it that. The blonde haired monkey faunus was excitedly chattering about Blake's fight with the rest of his team, and Scarlet was getting fairly tired of it.

"Yeah, well, why don't you - uh… Yeah. I got nothin'." Sun accepted defeat as he realised his ramblings had  _perhaps_ stretched on for a couple minutes too long.

"Dude, just remember. One finger, two finger, open up, step inside…" Sage made obscene gestures with his hands indicating the opening of  _something_ and Scarlet was in stitches before he was even finished.

"Shut the fuck up, Sage."

"You  _definitely_ have a crush on her, bro," Sage offhandly remarked.

"Naawh, Sun, can't you see that she's completely in lesbos with Yang?" Scarlet offered his two lien on the situation. He pointed towards the table where team RWBY sat, plus the visitors from the Vytal Festival. Ruby sat next to Winter, with Blake, Yang and Taiyang on the other side of the table. Weiss and Mrs Schnee were nowhere to be seen, probably bathing in gold or swimming in dust drugs according to the mad mind of Sage.

"She's totally blazing it," he'd say.

While Scarlet  _reckoned_ Yang was 'in lesbos' with Blake, there wasn't really any outwards display of affection between the two. Maybe the odd hand sliding behind Blake's back, being quickly swatted away by the girl herself, but not much else.

"Yeah Scarlet, you're right, they're  _totally fucking_ right now."

"Piss off Sage."

"Lads!" Sun stood on top of the table, inadvertently causing a scene. "I just remembered something, something mildly important."

"You're gay?!" Sage shouted, a little bit  _too_ loudly. Scarlet was doubled over in his seat, crying something along the lines of 'I'm gonna piss meself'. Sun had gone beet red and shoved himself back into his chair, averting his gaze from the others around the room and staring directly at Sage.

"You. Fuckin'. Prick."

"Wait, you're  _actually_ gay? Oh man, I didn't even kno-" Sage was cut off by Sun.

"No, I'm not fuckin' gay! I was going to ask where Neptune had gone until you opened your dipshit mouth!"

"Oh. Well, it's basically the same thing."

Scarlet looked up. "Wai' a minute. Where  _is_ Neptune?"

A few barely audible screams could be heard outside over the sound of the hustle and bustle in the hall. Team SSS, as it were, looked out of the windows to where the source of the noise would (most likely) be. They almost missed it, but Sun's sharp eyes just managed to spot the blue streak running outside. Barreling to the window, leaping over more than a few disgruntled students trying to eat, he stuck his head out of the window with Sage and Scarlet quickly in tow whereupon they say what had to be, for them, comedy  _gold._

"AAAH! OW- WEISS! I'M- OWW!"

The screams belonged to their blue-haired friend Neptune, which seemed odd, considering how girly they sounded. He was being chased up and down the paths by a certain Weiss Schnee, who looked  _more_ than a little bit pissed off, and had Myrtenaster in hand.

"YOU ARE NOT SORRY AT ALL! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN DRAW AND QUARTER YOUR STUPID FACE!"

Sun, with wide eyes, spoke with a surprisingly quiet voice for the cheeky personality with which he usually upheld. "Wow. I, uh. She seems… angry. What the  _fuck_ did Neptune do now?"

Said boy ran past the window, still wailing in terror. He cried out as Weiss tackled him to the floor, and stood atop him, her rapier Myrtenaster pointed straight at his throat.

"Neptune Vasilias," she growled, voice low and terrifying, "If you even  _think_ about flirting with me, or trying to touch me, or get up and close to me, Myrtenaster here will be going even closer - through that  _thick skull_ of yours. Do I make myself clear, mister?"

His head rolled over, looking up to the window where Sun, Scarlet and Sage had perched themselves. His sullen eyes cried out in fear and desperation, and nonverbally begged for their assistance. Of course, as was the policy on team SSSN, every action was for the greater good, be it stealing food or making a getaway. This was a policy that, at the very moment Neptune needed the lads most in his life, they decided to take action upon.

Sun jumped to his feet and pointed in a random direction, shouting "Team lads action news team!"

_Oh no, not now. Please. No. Not now. I'm begging you._

Sage ran to his side, holding his microphone in hand. "There's news, Sun! Over there!"

Scarlet trailed slightly behind them with his camera, wires drooping along the floor. "Wait up lads!" he shouted as Sun and Sage ran off in one direction, initiating a wild chase around the site of Beacon.

Team SSS, as it were, had left Neptune behind, with important news waiting to be found and reported. The sight was nothing short of crazy as the boys leaped over hedges, fell over wild benches, and crashed through small groups of people, all the while shouting things incoherent from the distance at which Weiss stood, above Neptune.

"Well, Neptune. It appears your friends, your ' _Team lads action news team_ ', can't help you now. Isn't that unfortunate?" Weiss spoke, her smooth voice instilling the utmost fear into Neptune.

"Weiss- I'm, uh, I-I'm sorry! I promise I-I'll never even get close to you a-again! At all! Please, just don't  _kill me_!"

With a shrug of the shoulders and the sheathing of Myrtenaster, Weiss let out a small "hmph" in affirmation, sure that Neptune would now stay true to his word after the near death experience. She made her way back inside the hall, back into the regular hustle and bustle, as if nothing had happened at all. She didn't even take notice of Neptune going into the fetal position and crying like a baby. He'd probably be scarred for the rest of his time at Beacon, now.

_At least he won't get close to me now. Him flirting with me every other minute was getting annoying._

She took her seat back at team RWBY's table, Ruby giving her a cheery wave, Blake nodding and returning to her book, and Yang continuing to stuff whatever food was being served into her mouth. Winter was looking at her nails, as was her usual 'indifference' pose.

"Girl's gotta eat."

"Yang, please don't talk with your mouth full."

Team SSS chose the same moment to kick down the door of the dining hall, camera and microphone still in hand, to come charging up and down the lines of tables, being chased by a rather angry Mrs Goodwitch, who was  _not_ best impressed by the team's antics at all. As they were stopped where they were, and their equipment confiscated, Sage made some desperate plea, shouting "But there was news to be had! News, miss!"

Between Weiss' wrath, Team SSS' shenanigans, and the number of spars which had taken place, it was just another day at Beacon Academy, Weiss supposed.


	13. Chapter 13

"So," Winter started. "Schnee sister plan. How will we do it?"

"I don't know," a slightly off Weiss answered. "I'm still not too sure I want to put Ruby through this."

"Oh come on! Just be cool for once. It'll be fun, I swear!"

"I'm sure it will be fun. I just think it's a bit… Mean thing to do."

"Oh, and her dating both of us isn't mean? If not something worse?"

"You have a point," Weiss conceded. "But I still don't really have an idea."

"Oh, I do. While I was in Vale, I bought this." She took a small parcel from her bag. "It's a rosy perfume, as I presumed she loves roses."

"She most certainly does."  _I love roses too, sometimes I even spray a bit of rosy perfume over my pillow so I can… Let's not get carried away here._

"Well then, I'll write a love note or something. But I will only sign it with "W". So she won't know if it's from me or you. However, for this plan to work, I'll need your dorm room empty. Think you can help me out with this last part?"

"Well, you know there are going to be some activities in the main building after lunch as a part of the festival. I'm pretty sure all of us will be there. I'll make sure that Yang doesn't stay there, no matter how hard she may try."

Winter smiled at the words. "Good. So it's settled. I'll be off writing the note. Message me when the dorm is empty. Oh, and one more thing, before I forget," Winter smacked her head lightly, "I'm gonna need a key so I don't break in."

"Of course." Weiss pulled the dorm key out of her bag and gave it to Winter, who looked at the ornament.

 _Snowflake. How predictable._  Winter mused and put the key away, together with the perfume. She then hugged Weiss, which was unexpected to say the least. However, Weiss not only accepted the hug, but immediately returned it.

_Thank Dust, this is how we should have always been._

"You get the best part of the plan, dear sister. I'd pay serious Lien to see Ruby's face when she sees the parcel and thanks you sheepishly. And her face at your reaction. Oh, Dust, I feel left out! You owe me one, sister." With those words, Winter left.

Weiss leaned back on the bench and closed her eyes momentarily.  _She's right. I wouldn't want to miss Ruby's reactions to this for the world. Thank you for the trust, sister._

* * *

About half an hour after lunch ended, Winter was walking the abandoned halls of the Beacon dormitory, making her way to RWBY room. A wide smile was pasted across her face as she finally reached the doors and unlocked them with Weiss' key. She sheepishly opened the door and poked her head in, just to make sure nobody was there, despite what Weiss told her.

After making sure she was alone, she entered and locked the door behind her.  _Where to put it so she'll see it as soon as she enters? The desk? Nah, way too obvious, also, what if she isn't the first one to enter?_

She was mulling over her options and in the end settled for placing the small parcel containing the sweetest rosy perfume Winter has ever smelled on Ruby's bunk. Next to it, she put the note that said 'For my lovely rose, W'.

With the job done, Winter was satisfied with herself and all things considered, she should leave at that moment as to avoid being seen at all. But she noticed the ample bookshelves next to the BY bunk. As a bit of a bookworm, she couldn't help herself and she quickly went through the titles. 'A Lady and a Cat Named Barney', '24 Hours Till Sunset', 'The Final Mile', 'Ninjas of Love', 'The Respite of the Wicked'...  _Wait, what was that previous one?_  Her eyes went back to the spine of a black book with red 'Ninjas of Love' written on it.

Being more than just a little interested in ninja arts, Winter couldn't help but pick up the book. She sat down at the desk and looked at the reviews on the back. 'A simple masterpiece of the genre!', 'A must read for all the genre fans!' With the reviews being so positive and the cover art not being exactly helpful with the genre determination, Winter decided to read the first chapter and then decide if it was worth buying later on or just leave it there and never think about it again.

She opened the book and started reading. It was a story about four ninja friends: Lumina, Minerva, Raiden and Wulf.  _Of course there has to be the token faunus,_ Winter rolled her eyes. Not as much out of being racist, but out of disappointment that some authors felt it was necessary that there was a representative of each minority. So this was the first thing the book didn't really have going for it in Winter's mind. But she kept reading.

The quartet then proceeded to wipe the floor with their targets, always just incapacitating them, never killing, then they locked the bad guys away and to congratulate each other on a job well done, they… _Kissed?_  Winter had to pause for a second. She shook her head and returned to the top of the page, to read through it again as she surely missed something there.

But no, it seemed like the story went from "good guys fighting bad guys" to "let's kiss as a congratulations on a job well done". It went quickly past just kissing and Winter blushed at the descriptions of what was going on.

_Oh my… He did what? He didn't… How? Why? Is that even legal? And why do I keep reading when it's obvious I am disgusted with books like this?_

Those were just a couple of thoughts running through the younger Schnee daughter, yet she didn't put the book down and kept reading. Before long, she was immersed in the writing, completely disregarding the honestly-not-too-good-or-anything plot, waiting for more scenes of… Congratulating. She barely even heard that her scroll went off with a new message.

A sudden loud voice close to the RWBY doors brought her out of her trance.

"... And that's why the weapons show was the best thing ever to happen since I started visiting this school!"

The voice was unmistakably Ruby's high-pitched, over-exaggerated happy voice. Winter jumped in her seat, quickly tucking the book back to its spot and did the best thing she could think of at the time: she threw herself underneath the BY bunk. She then took out her scroll and saw that Weiss sent her a message.

_Hey, we're coming back. Hope you're done._

Winter mentally slapped her forehead for being so inattentive. She sent a message back to Weiss just as team RWBY entered the room.

_I got… Distracted. I'm still in the room._

Winter then looked at the number of feet in the room and noticed four pairs of them, meaning that all four members of the team returned.  _This won't be fun._

She just remembered to put her scroll on silent mode before Weiss sent her a new message.

_You dolt! Well, there's not much I can do. Did you at least do it?_

Winter silently cursed under her breath.

_Of course I did. Hopefully I won't have to hide for too long._

Not a minute later, a reply.  _Where exactly are you?_

_Under your teammates' bunk._

…  _Which means Blake knows you're here. Hopefully she'll stay silent about it._

_How does she know I'm here?_

_Er… I'll tell you some other day._

As Winter kept worrying about her predicament, Blake smelled a smell that usually wasn't present. It smelled very similarly to Weiss, but just slightly different. Blake mused at the sudden realization and decided to stay silent. She glanced at her books and saw that one particular book wasn't as neatly tucked away as the others. She fixed the book in question and the smell got more intense.

_Oh, Winter, you naughty girl, you._

Ruby, on the other hand, was worrying about something completely different. It didn't take her long to see the parcel on her bunk and it took her even less to notice the note next to it. She blushed at the gift, but then she saw that her girlfriend (whichever gave her that) only signed as 'W'.  _Oh boy, this is bad! If it's from Winter and I show Weiss this, she'll flip. If it's from Weiss and I say nothing… She'll flip again. Oh Dust, what to do, what am I to do? I'm a dead girl right now!_

Weiss apparently noticed the uneasiness on Ruby's otherwise almost always happy visage.

"Ruby? Is something wrong?"

_No. Not you. Of all the other people in the room… I mean, not that there's a lot of other people here, but still… Why you? Oh Dust, oh Dust!_

She started scratching the back of her head while putting on the most innocent look ever. "Ehehe, nothing's wrong, why would anything be wrong?"

"You looked… Brooding." Ruby noticed a grin on her girlfriend's face.  _So it is hers? Oh thank Dust!_

Ruby whispered so Blake and Yang wouldn't hear. "Eh… It's nothing… I just got this… Parcel on my bunk. Thank you, Weiss."

"What do you mean, thank you, Weiss?"

Ruby paled.  _Oh, I've gone and done it now._  "Ehhhh… Umm… This?" She showed the small box to Weiss.

"I don't recognize that box. Who sent that to you?"

"I… I… I don't know! I… Just found it here!"

Ruby's loud try at futile self defense brought Yang and Blake out of their talk. "Something wrong, Rubes?"

"I'll tell you what is wrong!", Weiss exclaimed, hurt in her voice apparent. "Ruby is dating me and another person at the same time!"

"No! No, Weiss, I swear! I don't know who sent this to me! Please, I don't want it! Yang, I'm begging you, help, please!"

Yang noticed what Ruby was trying to tell her and the tears welling in her baby sister's eyes. Being a good sister that she always was, Yang decided to roll with it. "There, there, Ice Queen. I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding. Maybe Ruby just has a secret admirer or something. It's not like you should be upset about it. I'm sure she only has eyes for you."

Weiss turned around to face Yang. "A-Are you sure? I-It's really just a misunderstanding?"

"I'm positive. Rubes is a good girl. You should trust her more."

_Yang, you're the best sister anyone could ever ask for! I owe you one or two or ten._

Weiss then turned back around towards Ruby. "Ruby, is what Yang is saying true? That it's just a misunderstanding and nothing more?"

"Y-Yes!" Ruby quickly said, almost in tears. "I swear! A misunderstanding, nothing more."

Weiss let out a long sigh. "I-I guess I'm sorry for overreacting then. I should trust you more if this whole girlfriend thing is gonna last."

Ruby sheepishly glanced at Weiss. "D-Does that mean I can keep it? It's a very sweet rosy perfume," she quickly added to put down any misunderstanding about knowing who sent it to her.

"Sure. But only if I'm the only one who gets to smell it."

 _Whew._  "Thank you, Weiss, you're seriously the best." Ruby was smiling again.  _Winter, you're in big trouble now!_

As the team was completely unaware of her presence (well, save for Blake and Weiss), Winter could barely breathe from all the laughter she had to suppress.

_Oh my word, I can't believe it worked so perfectly!_

After she calmed down, she started thinking. O _nly one thing remained to be done. And that's getting out of the room without anyone seeing me._

"Come on, girls, it's such a nice day, let's go to the park and stretch for a while, what do you say?"

The voice of Winter's saviour was not, oddly enough, her sister, but rather the girl in black with a bow on her head. After the team agreed and left the room, Winter let out a sigh of relief.  _Well that was easier than expected._

She waited for another minute to make sure nobody would come back and then rolled from under Blake's bed. She gave a glance to the bookshelf and looked at the book that got her into trouble.  _Hmm… I got so close to reading through it… I'm sure Blake won't notice it's missing if I… Borrow it for a day._  She took the book, tucked it in her bag and quickly left the room. She would not want to be caught again.

* * *

Oh, Weiss had laughed so easily when poor Jaune was matched up against Fox in the earlier qualifying rounds of the tournament. She watched as the boy mercilessly cut down Jaune and all his hopes of further progressing in the tournament. Pyrrha was heartbroken, Weiss herself was fairly amused, and Winter was out right  _ecstatic,_ mean perhaps though it was. So, of course, she sat and twiddled her thumbs until she got to fight her next match in the tournament. Her first opponent was a breeze, swiftly ruined by Myrtenaster's elegant movements and shapes. The idiot could barely keep up against the heiress.

"Miss Schnee…"

Now, though, Weiss wished she hadn't laughed at Jaune's misfortune.

"...and Miss Adel."

_As in, Coco Adel? The badass lady who cut down hordes of grimm with her gun?_

Now Weiss had a reason to be worried. Winter and Mrs Schnee, of course, didn't know what kind of a badass Coco was, being far away in Atlas when the breach occurred. Blake and Yang were off somewhere training or making out; either option just as likely. It wouldn't surprise her if the irresponsible Taiyang Xiao Long was off sleeping somewhere or pestering other adults. As for Ruby, Weiss' girlfriend, the one person she could turn to when she was most in need…

"Oh my gosh! Coco! She's, like, my role model! Besides Uncle Qrow of course, because he's way totally cooler. But Weiss, Weiss, her minigun is so  _fascinating!_ "

...Weiss decided she would probably see little support from Ruby.

Stepping up to her mark on the arena, she watched as Coco lazily sauntered up onto her mark, and lowered her glasses.

"So. Here we are."

"Indeed."

"See, I'd say some cool one-liner here, but shopping-buddies don't do that to shopping-buddies."

Weiss could barely help but roll her eyes. "Yes, yes," she said, "Can we just hurry this match, before Ruby finds her way onto this stage and her hands onto your weapon?" She directed a subtle gesture towards Professor Goodwitch.

"I see our ladies are ready. The match will begin in…"

Both girls tensed up at this, ready to snap into action at a moment's notice.

"Three… two… one… begin!"

As soon as the whistle sounded, Weiss was already off from her starting position, Myrtenaster held out straight and strong. Coco absent-mindedly brought her bag from her back and held it over her shoulder, waiting for the impending blows. Knowing the fight would be difficult and likely drag out, Weiss first struck for clear spots to test the waters. Each mock blow was crushed under the immense weight of the bag, the compacted form of the minigun easily knocking aside the light swipes of the rapier.

A quick jab to Coco's side was met with a swooping upwards deflection from the compacted gun. Not only did the path charge straight through the rapier, but it nearly caught Weiss' face, had she not been skilled enough to react quickly. Coco brought her back sideways again, and Weiss was unable to defend, Myrtenaster offering no help as the bag crashed straight into her side. Tumbling several feet across the arena, a few odd cheers were heard from the crowd, apparently impressed by the lady fighting off a sword with "just any other handbag".

Weiss dared them to come down and take her place, to be hit full force with the monstrous weight of that thing.

Marching over again, an easy roll sent Weiss out of the slow blow directed straight into her previously occupied spot, and she took this opportunity to lunge straight into Coco's side. Her victory in knocking the older girl was short lived, as a surprise leg snapped straight into her torso as Coco rolled straight back to her feet.  _Mark me impressed, to move that elegantly with a stupidly heavy compacted minigun takes skill._ In her mind, though, it would never be as impressive as Ruby's skill with Crescent Rose.

She quickly shook her head clear, and summoned a glyph beneath her and was promptly sent flying. This would, at least, give Weiss the momentary advantage. Coco tracked her whilst standing hand on hip back on the ground. The time it would take for Weiss to get back to the ground would not have been long enough to deploy her minigun. This thought was immediately proved true as the heiress shot downwards to the ground, and ice erupted all around her point of impact.

Ruby, stood in the stands, couldn't stand the tense atmosphere of the arena. She wanted to see Coco's minigun in action, dust damn it!

Weiss stood atop her ice castle, peering at Coco who resided several feet below the structure.

"Nice tricks, Ice Queen."

She would be lying if that nickname didn't frustrate her ever so slightly.

Coco waltzed over to the icy construct, and readied her bag for a swing to knock the whole thing down in one blow. Predictable, the heiress disappeared from her perch and shot straight behind her, glyphs tracking her every angling movement. She swiftly twirled around to catch the still landing girl off guard, and delivered with a devastating blow straight to Weiss' chest, sent her  _flying_ across the arena. A bit of a smirk was the most she had to offer on the situation.

Scrambling to her feet, Weiss looked up to see Coco's dreaded minigun taking shape, the folding form of the handbag quickly turning into a machine designed for death.

Just as the gunfire began to ring, Weiss was once again forced to leap into the air with the aid of a propelling glyph, barely avoiding the forming storm of shots beneath her. She couldn't even tell one part of the stream of bullets from the other as the weapon fired so quickly. Another glyph shot Weiss off back towards the still standing ice construct from earlier, jagged pillars of ice standing staggered in the ground. The bellow of gunfire continued as Coco's aim barely traced Weiss' movements, the velocity of the bullets not quite enough to catch the quick girl.

One thing the bullet onslaught did, however, catch, was the ever present pain of the ice construct within which Weiss recouped. The ammunition tore straight through it, making it look something more like cheese as the gunfire decorated the ice.

Coco did not account for the consequential mist, however, as the ice was shorn and mist exploded across the stage.

She was forced to stop firing as her visibility was reduced to naught.

"Nice one Schnee - where are you?"

A shout back was heard from some indeterminate direction.

"Thank you."

"Not even going to tell me where you are?"

"I think I will pass that offer."

"Rude."

" _I'm_ rude? You just tried to fill me with bullets."

"Touché, princess."

The sharp ring of metal was all that Coco heard before an incredible heat drew down her back, mists billowing all around. She barely contained the cry of surprise, and upon turning around to meet her adversary, she was just met with a crumbling icicle and swirling mists. Coco was backed into a corner here, with no foreseeable escape.

_And a shit load of aura lost. Fuck, that hit actually really hurt._

The fight continued on like this for some time - Coco stalked through the impermeable fog, keeping her back to the completely useless and hole-filled ice while Weiss took potshot strikes at her with great speeds, too quick for Coco to react and bat away with her minigun.

Coco had to bite back a curse due to her frustration.

And just like that, it all came crashing down all at once - Weiss had came straight for her front, in apparent arrogance. Big mistake. Coco leapt up into the air, and drew her minigun up with her showering the area in rounds. Weiss would by now have hit the ice which Coco was previously backed up against, and Coco would retake the advantage.

What Coco  _wasn't_ expecting to happen, though, was to be propelled at incredible speeds straight towards the ground, and promptly torn to pieces by Myrtenaster. Her minigun too large and heavy to be able to put up any effective close-quarters resistance, Coco was effectively resigned to her fate, as strike after strike found it's way into her abdomen and let her aura plummet.

Seconds later, the relentless onslaught of the rapier had ended, just to be pointed - no, digging ever so slightly into Coco's neck, as the heiress half-growled "Yield."

Coco let go of her weapon and stuck her hands up lazily, too tired to form any clever comments or get the younger girl off of her. "I yield, princess," she grinned, as the whistle blew. Coco had decided it was simply best to save face and know when to stop, rather than waste any more energy in a futile resistance to a force which had already won. She had to admit, Weiss was a very sneaky girl, surprisingly so.

With a wave of Professor Goodwitch's wand, the light mist still remaining was cleared and the ice quickly melted and then evaporated. In clear view of the battlefield, Weiss stood atop a battered Coco with her rapier at her side. The professor then spoke up, saying "Miss Adel has yielded to Miss Schnee, after having lost more than 50% of her aura."

Looking up to the screen, an angry orange met Coco as her aura bar was way down from what she initially expected it to be. Perhaps the battle  _had_ taken just that much toll on her.

Weiss, meanwhile, was still grasping the gravity of the situation. She, with an aura bar still above half, had not only beaten the fashion queen of Beacon but had gotten her to  _yield_ whilst doing so, and best of all, her mother and sister were watching!

A wave of applause began as the audience quickly began standing and clapping the heiress' victory. With a smile, she offered a hand to Coco, who took it and damn near pulled Weiss over with her strength. She walked over to pick up her still formed minigun, and then met Weiss face to face again.

"Well, Schnee, I expected a good fight and I got one! Thanks for letting me yield, though, 'cus this is one of my best dresses and  _damn_ if you ruined it."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, I try, Coco."

As quickly as Coco had stood up, she was knocked back to her feet as a red blur made it's way from the audience straight into her side, squealing all the way.

"OH DUST, IT'S COCOOO!"

Ruby had survived the early match tension, apparently, and had put her priorities in order: first the minigun, and then her girlfriend. Why was Weiss not even  _slightly_ surprised?

"Co- I mean,  _ahem,_ Miss Adel! I'm Ruby, and, I'm.. uh.. I'm your biggest fan!"

Biggest fan? Why was Weiss  _still_ not surprised?

"Hey, red. You're… Ruby, arent'cha? Huge sniper scythe and super speed?"

A huge cheshire grin spread across Ruby's face and her eyes were star struck. "Yep! That's me! I love your minigun, miss!"

Coco's ensuing laugh was silky and smooth, like fine chocolate. She got back onto her feet, and stood a good few inches taller than Ruby.

"You do, hmm? How about we trade weapon for weapon?"

"What?! You mean, give Crescent Rose to you?! I know I love your minigun but  _jeez_ I don't love it that much - I still need sweetheart to fight and-"

Ruby's panic was cut off by Coco.

"No, silly. I mean, swap weapons quickly and have a bit of a look."

Ruby's jaw dropped.

"Yes!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that was a thing. The mean sisters finally get to have a laugh and we also had an epic fight. What's not to like?


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter that bumped the rating on fanfiction.net. Meaning, it contains a smut scene. Just a warning.

"So you're suggesting… we bake."

"Yeah! It's going to be great, Weiss, just you wait!"

After Weiss' magnificent victory against Coco in the tournament, Ruby had felt the overwhelming need to take the girl down to Vale in order to get some baking supplies. When did she agree to this? According to her, cookies and cake were in order after such a hard fought battle, and while Weiss didn't have a sweet tooth like Ruby did, she supposed it would make for a nice day of activity - provided they didn't set fire to the small kitchenette in their room like Yang did the last time she tried to cook.

The shit-eating grin on Yang's face was as clear as if it happened yesterday. "They're just a bit hotter than expected," she proclaimed, whilst Blake desperately ran around putting out the raging inferno they called an oven.

"You know I don't like sweet and sugary things all that much," Weiss said with her hands on her hips.

"But you like me!" Weiss… actually had to give it to the younger girl. Clever move.

"I mean, I  _suppose_ we  _could…_ "

"Weeeiiisss!"

How was she ever supposed to resist those utterly adorable puppy eyes? It was a trap, she knew it, but she couldn't help but be lulled by the siren's song… where the siren was a young girl, and the song was beautiful wide grey eyes… but her point remained.

"You have five minutes. Make yourself look decent, I'm going to go and let Blake and Yang know we'll be down in town." The authoritative tone she used told Ruby that this would be about as sweet as the deal would get.

Ruby squealed and immediately dashed around the room, collecting her various garments. With it still being early in the morning - because according to her team leader, nine in the morning was apparently  _very early,_ \- Ruby was still in her pajamas and yet was intent on creating mischief and havoc wherever her roses blew. Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration; no doubt her or poor Blake would be left to clear away the leftover petals later on in the day.

Weiss stopped in the doorway and looked back, holding the handle of the ajar door in her hand. "Ruby," she began, "please behave. It's the least I could ask."

Flopping backwards onto  _Weiss'_ bunk bed, she blew off the girl in white. "Pfft, whenever have  _I_ misbehaved?"

"I'd tell you, but I'm sure your sugar-rotted brain wouldn't be able to process all the times you've acted like an utter dolt in public." There were no malice behind the words, and Ruby just rolled her eyes. "I'll be back in a few minutes - and please clean up your rose petals, they get everywhere." Even besides this, Weiss knew that the younger girl likely wouldn't bother. She barely caught Ruby's goodbye as she stepped out of the door and into the hallway.

_Now, to find Blake and that pesky partner of hers…_

* * *

The aforementioned cat faunus was searching for someone specific.  _Someone that escaped with her most prized and treasured book._ She would think that finding a long-and-white-haired, twin-ponytailed girl of 16 would not be hard given the scarcity of both the length and colour of her hair. Not to mention the haircut. Blake didn't really like twintails, but that didn't matter in that moment.

A familiar scent invaded her nostrils.  _Yes, that would be the one I smelled on the book yesterday._  She followed the smell, watching not to trip over someone or something. She was expecting the scent to bring her either to the airship dock or one of the girls' restrooms. To her surprise, it led her in a completely different direction. A direction that was definitely one of the faunus' favourite places on the whole academy.  _Why would she take that book there, though? It's not really something you read in public spaces._  Blake chuckled.  _Maybe i can catch her in the act then._

Her smell didn't fail her and she actually got to the academy library. With a grin, she entered and took in the wonderful smell of old books and ink mixed with almost surgical cleanliness of the area in which she found herself. The one scent that made her come to the place still pervaded the room, though. Blake went into full stealth mode and started quietly moving and looking around for traces of the girl with the stolen book.

The academy library was a very large place, though. Blake knew she wouldn't find Winter in the public benches, but that still left her with more than half the library to search through. Luckily, her nose would not fail her, she was certain of that. Somehow, quietly moving around the area made Blake feel like a huntress. Not the kind that saves the world and all that jazz, though. The one that was chasing her prey in the wild, that made her feel powerful, the primal urge that she couldn't hide no matter how hard she tried.  _Well, we are part animals. Can't really say I didn't expect that._

Creeping from the shadows, she finally reached a very secluded part of the library. It wasn't just the scent now, it was something else too. It was… Sound. Sound of someone… Moaning very silently? The voice was very cute to Blake's ears, too.

_Winter, you cheeky, cheeky Schnee._

* * *

Winter was pretty ashamed of herself. Not as much of the fact that she stole…  _Borrowed_ … Blake's book. No, that was by far not the thing that was making her feel ashamed.  _It does say something about me, doesn't it?_

She felt ashamed because of what she was about to do. Then again, she  _was_  in the most secluded spot in the library, she was sure of that. She was pretty much positive she's one of the few people that found that room in the first place. And it was not like it'd be the first time she'd done something like this. It would be a first time in a bit more open space, though, and that thought aroused her just a bit more.

Given the size of the library and the desolation of the room Winter was in, she was also pretty sure nobody would hear her even if she planned on being loud. Which, of course, she wouldn't because she was not stupid.

And it was not like it was her fault! It was not her fault at all that the writer chose the last chapter to have Lumina and Minerva be…  _very nice_  to each other, taking care that the other wasn't getting too hot since the room they were in seemed to be on fire, at least that's how she was picturing it, what with them taking each other's clothes off and all. And the way they were touching each other was so… Alluring to her. Before she knew it, she was only reading with one hand, the other unwillingly - yes,  _un_ willingly - went to a place that wasn't necessarily a place one should be touching in public spaces like libraries.

Her breath was hitching and suddenly Winter felt like the temperature of the room rose rapidly. She wanted - for some unknown reason - to take off the top layer of her attire, that day consisting of a snow white tank top (it was a hot day anyway) and matching denim shorts, something that didn't take a long to put on and was comfortable and made her look presentable.

The hand that wasn't holding the book was caressing the white-haired girl's body and by some accident or so, the hand brushed a spot that her sports bra couldn't make completely numb. She released a small yelp of surprise. She was never that sensitive there before. The hand wandered down to her waist and a bit below. At first Winter thought she had a different accident, but it turned out that it was a very different liquid. The liquid that would ooze from her whenever she did what she was planning on doing.

She slowly unzipped the zip on her shorts, revealing her striped white and blue panties. Continuing the reading, never taking her eyes off the book, it seemed like her hand had a mind of its own, wandering up and down the panties, from time to time going a bit over the edge, making Winter shake just a little. In that moment she knew she couldn't stop anymore. The hand entered the panties, now in direct contact with her skin and the neatly trimmed white landing strip. As if following the strip, one of her fingers ran through it and then over the edge, making a sudden contact with the slightly swollen nub that was the source of the white-haired girl's pleasure. The jolt the touch sent up Winter's body made her moan not too silently. She dropped the book for a second and covered her mouth with the then free hand. After making sure nobody heard, she picked the book up again and continued with the 'reading'.

With the graphic descriptions the author of the novel used, Winter didn't need an overly active imagination to envision both Lumina and Minerva, entwined in throes of passion, barely containing their moans and screams as they pleasured one another. It was very much like watching a video on her scroll, with the only difference being that it was just so well written and not really visible. And that thought made Winter start rubbing the aforementioned nub a bit more forcefully, which elicited many gasps and short moans.

She then tried something she had only learned about a week earlier: she slid her fingers down so that her index and middle were positioned directly at her entrance while her thumb was making small circles around the clit. She started inserting the index inside and while it hurt just a bit, she continued pushing it further and further in. At last, the whole digit was in and Winter let out a sigh of relief. When she pulled it almost completely out, she positioned the middle finger right next to the index and tried to push them both down. That succeeded after a few tries. Her vagina was finally open enough for the two fingers to slide in and out effortlessly.

She then picked up her tempo, pumping ever faster and circling the clit faster still, coincidentally moaning faster and faster. She did somehow manage to keep the moans very silent.

As she felt her release nearing ever more closer, she dropped the book and shut her eyes, now envisioning the scene described in the book without the narrator, the free hand started rubbing the breast under the sports bra. Her release was so close, she could almost feel it.  _Just a bit more…_

"Winter?"

Boy, was Winter ever shocked as she heard a voice behind her! Both her hands were on the desk in an instant. Sure, her shorts were still unzipped and her left hand was wet, but maybe, just maybe, the person didn't see what she was doing and would leave soon.  _And I was so close, too! Whoever this is, they're gonna pay… Oh._

She turned her head around to see who dared to disturb her in her moment of bliss and noticed the yellow eyes of a certain black-haired girl from her girlfriend's team. The same girl that Winter stole..  _Borrowed_ from… The book that was accusingly open on the page that Winter was reading before her interruption. All anger she might have felt at being disturbed dissipated immediately after realizing Blake had caught her red (and wet) handed.

"Ummm… Hi, Blake." Winter tried so hard not to blush, but she probably wasn't doing a very good job of it. At least judging by the grin on Blake's face.

"Hello, Winter. Didn't expect to find you here." The grin on her face widened even more. "I couldn't help but overhear some super cute moaning when I walked past the door. At first I thought someone was in trouble, then I opened the door and noticed it was just you here, alone. Am I interrupting something, by chance?"

"No!", Winter said loudly and perhaps too quickly. "Nothing at all."

"Odd. Oh, since I found you… Do you perchance remember seeing one of my books around the campus? Someone stole it from me. It is a very precious book to me."

"W-What is it about?"

"Oh, it's a graphic novel. The story is nothing special, but it is nevertheless my most prized book. Oh, there it is! Someone must have forgotten it here in the library!" She walked to the desk and picked the book up. "Oh, look, somebody's been reading it! And… On this scene…" Blake looked down at Winter's hands. "I think someone was more than reading it, in fact."

"I… Can't take it anymore! Quit beating around the bush, Blake!"

"Okay, I'm quitting that. What I'm not quitting, though, is this: missy, I have you in the palm of my hand. And you better not try to escape from it. It might end badly for you."

"What do you know about me that I should be afraid of?", Winter scoffed.

"I know plenty of things. For example, I know of your little… Activity here today. And some other stuff too." Blake's voice was completely calm, almost purring. Like a cat that knows her prey is done, but can't resist playing with it some more.

"Like?"

"You'll find out soon enough. For now, I'll be taking my book back. However, don't forget. I have stuff against you and I can use it at any moment. See you around." With those words, Blake turned around with a book under her shoulder and left the room, smirking to herself.  _It feels good to overpower a Schnee after all the years of them overpowering us._

Winter, on the other hand, was furious. How could she let down her guard like that? Now she was in a pickle that was unlike anything she experienced before. This girl had incriminating evidence on Winter Schnee! There was more than just a simple rumour of her being a smutmonkey, it was a matter of keeping the Schnee name unblemished.  _Well, to a degree._  She stood up, almost forgetting that her shorts were still unzipped. She spared one last frustrated look at her soaked striped panties and quickly zipped them up.

* * *

"Come on Weiss!"

Weiss wasn't following Ruby so much as being dragged by her around the bustling streets of Vale. The strong grip on her hand wasn't about to give any time soon, and she just resigned herself to her fate. Buildings stood tall all around her like forests of concrete, grey structures dividing the city's roads up. Weiss wouldn't describe it as a jungle so much, having grown up in Atlas herself - the skyscrapers in the cities of Atlas were far more imposing and much taller than those found within Vale. The year-round layer of snow was especially beautiful, a treasured sight to see, and really put the icing on top of the metaphorical cake.

Speaking of cakes and baking, the duo had just arrived at their first stop, a quaint little bakery shop with the windows packed full of sugary treats. As much as Ruby salivated over these cookies, the two were here to browse the range of supplies they had - and not taste test the cookies. It actually took Weiss physically restraining Ruby to make sure she didn't shoot off into the shop.

Walking through the door at a stately pace, Weiss took a look around. A small counter resided in the corner with an aging lady behind it. One or two rows of shelves lined with various ingredients and tools took center stage in the shop. It wouldn't be much more than a case of walking up, grabbing the required ingredients, and then paying for them, before leaving.

Ruby clearly had other ideas in mind.

"No Ruby, we don't need a Grimm cookie cutter."

"No Ruby, we don't need a rose-decorated bowl."

"No Ruby, we don't need a rifle-shaped wooden spoon."

"No Ruby, we don't need an ice-cream maker."

Most of the visit went on like this; Ruby would pick out a random object from the tools section and plead to Weiss to let her have it. Weiss actually had to remind herself that Ruby was, in fact, a student at Beacon, and not only had a  _very_ deadly rifle/scythe combination, but also more extensive firearm knowledge than Weiss could ever possess and unmatched skills.

And here she was, nearly crying fat crocodile tears, just because the icy heiress wouldn't allow her to buy useless and unneeded kitchen equipment which they already had. Why was a simple wooden spoon and bowl not enough?

"Weiss, can I hav-"

"No Ruby, we don't need a- we're supposed to be here to buy  _baking ingredients,_ for dust's sake!"

Ruby put down the item she held with a pout. It wasn't everyday that the girls got to go down to Vale and buy more general, non-food supplies for their dorm that gave it the personal touch. This was one of those days, and that quite clearly necessitated buying all kinds of new tools, cutlery and wares.

Complying with Weiss' request, she offed herself towards the aisle of baking ingredients, with the shelves packed full of all kinds of flour, sugar, chocolate and who knew what else. It was like Ruby's dream - but broken down into many, smaller, unrefined parts. Parts that didn't involve upper and lower receivers, barrels, stocks or magazines, annoyingly.

"Hey, Weissy," Ruby called out, ignoring the prompt 'don't call me that' response from Weiss, "Which flour do you want me to get? I mean, there's like three different packs here, and they all look the same…"

Weiss turned the corner with her arms occupied by a basket which looked relatively empty at the moment. The only thing Ruby could actually see in the basket was a very high quality chocolate imported from Mistral, the known masters of chocolatiers.  _It'll be amazing if this doesn't make her hyper,_ Weiss thought to herself,  _because I didn't even know they did 95% coco…_

Her eyes scanned the shelves, holes already being burnt into them by the ever focused Ruby. There were a few kinds of flour, but most were for the professional cooks. Weiss simply grabbed the first package she saw which said "Self Raising" on it, as apparently that was usually a codeword for failsafe baking ingredients. "This should do," she said with forged confidence. In all actuality, she had no idea whether it would work or not. Weiss had never indulged in baking, spending most of her time as a child singing, training with her rapier or playing with Winter.

Her mother never baked with her, nothing like Ruby probably did. She was a woman of business, and more often than not it always ended up calling for her.

"Weiss.

...Weiss?

Hey, Remnant to Weiss, you in there?"

Weiss was snapped out of her reverie by a certain redhead who had stuffed her arms full of all the savoury items she could find; chocolate chips, strawberry icing, and pretty much anything else on the shelf that contained even trace amounts of sugar.

"Is that everything?" she asked with dry sarcasm.

"Uh.. yeah? I think it is. I mean, I don't know, do you like chocolate? There's plenty of it, we need to make sure you like it- _mff_!" Ruby was cut off as Weiss put her hand over her mouth.

"Yes. This will be fine. Come on, we need to pay for all of this."

"Righty-o!" Ruby gave Weiss a mock salute as she snatched the basket out of the heiress' hands and bounded towards the counter. Weiss would not be surprised, she thought, if the poor lady behind the till died of a heart attack. It took all of her willpower to drag her feet on over to where the excited redhead was reciting the tale of grandeur which was, apparently, the two of them looking through the shop to buy ingredients.

"Did you actually think about this before you suggested it?"

"Uhm… yes? I mean, I've baked a few times, so we  _should_  be fine…"

Weiss couldn't help but groan. Ruby decided that now, as they stood in the small kitchenette of their dorm, with the ingredients (and the rose-decorated bowl Ruby snuck into the basket) laid out before them, was the best time to tell Weiss she "didn't exactly know how to bake," and not only that, she wanted to bake both cookies  _and_ a cake.

There was literally no good outcome to be had from this.

* * *

The next couple hours quite literally flew by for Weiss, and from her memory, she could only recall some of the whole escapade, likely pulling her hair out in frustration during the remainder.

First, Ruby decided that instead of being careful, it would actually be best to attempt to open the small bag of flour with Crescent Rose's blade. Needless to say, it was a terrible idea, and before they knew it, they were both completely covered head-to-toe in a thin white layer of flour. Ruby was rolling around on the floor in laughter, and Weiss was  _less_ than impressed.

After a quick clean up, Weiss salvaged what she could of the flour in the bag and reprimanded Ruby for doing something so ridiculously silly. She confiscated Crescent Rose, and handed it off to Yang who was just heading out to the gym for the day.

"Weiss, no! She's my sweetheart!"

"Your 'sweetheart' can't be used to bake, dolt. It needs to be as far away from you as possible, and unfortunately, the responsibility of keeping it lies with Yang."

"Pfft, it'll be fine Ice Queen. I'll just put it in the corner or something, or maybe play hot potato with it with dad."

Once she got Ruby to stop sulking, she asked her to go and get the eggs out of the small fridge and to not break them; which, surprisingly, she managed to. Ruby placed the eggs down on the counter and had earned Weiss' trust… for now. The two set about mixing together all the ingredients they bought haphazardly, with little regard to actual amounts. Weiss would have liked to measure the ingredients out, but she didn't know the correct values, and Ruby wouldn't care despite being a better baker.

Oh well. She'd just have to throw caution to the wind.

After pouring the worryingly thick and lumpy mixture into the tray, Ruby assured Weiss that, yes, the mixture was supposed to look like that. Weiss wasn't convinced but followed through on the younger girl's plan anyway. They stuck the tray into the small oven and set the timer (after a few minutes searching on the net) to 15 minutes.

"But Ruby, look, it says you should put them on for at least 18 minutes."

"Yeeeaahh," said Ruby, "but I'm  _really_ hungry and I can't be bothered to wait that long."

"It's literally two minutes longer!" said Weiss with a raised voice. She pointed back towards the oven where the mixture was now being cooked. "What if they all come out disgusting and sloppy? Then who's fault will it be?"

Ruby waved the girl off as she picked up the mixing bowl - the one with the roses on - and began licking the mixture from the inside of it. The contented noises she made would tell anyone that the leftover mixture probably tasted quite nice. The horrified noises Weiss made would tell you that she was less than approving of what the girl was doing.

"Ruby… what are you doing?"

"Mmm?" Ruby took her head out of the bowl and looked at Weiss quizzically. She had mixture all around her mouth… on her nose… how did she get it into her  _hair?_  "Oh, you want some? I mean, you can always lick the spoon. You know, I left it for you, being kind and all."

Weiss rolled her eyes, and took the spoon before dumping it into the sink. The rest of the items they had used which had gotten dirtied soon followed it into the bath of soapy water. It paid to be prepared, even if the water was only lukewarm by now. She took the initiative and began to scrub some of the larger pieces of kitchenware, knowing that if she had left this task to Ruby it would have never been done.

Yang chose that moment to walk in, nearly kicking the door down before announcing her arrival in her usual sing-song tone. It only took one big sniff, audible from even inside the kitchenette, before the blonde came barrelling through the frame and taking a look around.

"Mmm… what's cookin', Weiss? Smells good."

Weiss turned on her heel whilst still cleaning up the tray for the scales. How Ruby got that bit covered in mixture, she'd never know. "We're baking cookies, if you must know."

Ruby chimed in, sticking her head out from behind the bowl which was almost clean by then, saying "Yeah! We're gonna bake a cake later, too! Weiss said we could, didn't you?"

"Well, that depends. At this rate, we're going to have to do it tomorrow, because  _you_ wasted all our flour! We're going to have to go and get some more, unfortunately."

"Aww. I was looking forward to that…" Ruby began sulking.

"Well, don't worry, I'm sure there's plenty of other things to do while we wait. Maybe, for example, you could have helped me clean the dishes?" Weiss gestured to the number of drying pieces they had gotten dirty sitting on the drying rack next to the sink. Ruby pouted and put her hands on her hips.

"You never asked!"

"I shouldn't need to ask, you dolt."

"Have either of you seen Blake?" Yang chipped in.

"I'm right here."

All three of the girls screamed as Blake spoke, stepping in from behind Yang. The ninja had made a habit of putting her excellent stealth skills to use and creeping up on the other three when they least suspected it, and it never ended well. It was essentially as good of a prank as you'd ever receive from the quiet, much more reclusive girl.

" _FUCKING HELL BLAKE,_ when did you get here?!" Yang shouted.

"A minute ago."

"Wha- I don- actually, you know what? I give up with you and your ninja stuff. Carry on."

It was just then the oven pinged, signalling that the cookies had baked. Ruby squealed and shot straight to the oven, forgetting the rose bowl she was holding like a baby in a tight grip just a second ago. She shoved her hands inside the white and red oven mitts and opened up the door, ready to see their amazing creation.

When Ruby pulled out the tray, the cookies looked…

"Well, I mean, they look okay," Ruby reasoned with her teammates.

"It looks like someone literally dumped a whole chocolate bar in each cookie," said Weiss.

"The dough looks rather deformed. Did you even bother with a mould?" asked Blake. Ruby smacked herself upside the head internally - Blake read loads of books, probably ones about cooking too - she should have just asked her.

Yang was too busy guffawing to offer her stance.

"So… uh…" Ruby asked, with a quiet voice, "would anyone like some of Weiss' victory cookies…?" Being honest with herself, she was petrified that everyone would say no, that they'd turn their noses up at her terrible creation and just not even bother to give them a second thought.

"Yoink!" said a new voice, grabbing one of the largest cookies of the batch and stuffing it into her mouth. She deliberated for a moment, and smiled, swallowing the cookie. "Tastes great!" she exclaimed.

Ruby could recognize those two ponytails from a mile away. "Winter? Since when were you in here? Why does it feel like people just choose to randomly appear in our dorm room?"

Winter shifted her weight from one leg to the other and had started to wipe her mouth with a small handkerchief, emblazoned with the Schnee crest. "You know, you leave the door to the room wide open. I couldn't help but wonder to myself what the wonderful smell was, and following it through the halls, imagine my surprise when I was led here! And, well, here we are."

"Say, Ruby, no chance me and Blake could have a cookie each?" asked Yang once Winter had stopped talking and began munching. Ruby perked up and looked a lot less crestfallen than before.

"Yang, who says I even want a cookie...?" Blake inquired, turning to her partner.

"I can read your  _mind._ "

"Is that right? Then what am I thinking right now? Do tell."

"...You're thinking about how jaw-droppingly beautiful I am."

"No. I'm thinking about how that may be the longest word you've ever used."

Ruby giggled as the two began to bicker, both playfully taking a turn at the other with maybe only a little bit of malice from Blake's side. They decided to call it off when Yang finally stepped forth for a cookie and was promptly tripped over by Blake's leg. Blake claimed she had nothing to do with it, as Weiss stood between the two, munching on her cookie also. Before she knew it, all of the cookies had soon been claimed from the tray and the girls ended up lounging around the room for the rest of the evening, intent on watching cute cat videos until they fell to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

Taiyang Xiao Long considered himself a proud ex-huntsman, with plenty of battle skills and weapon knowledge under his belt. The great warhammer he once had would crush anything that got in it's way, and what wasn't destroyed by that was quickly cut down by the scythe of Qrow. He was older, wiser, and stronger than many people he knew; including his kids…

...Most of the time.

The lot of them had seemed to just disappear literally every day, despite the fact he went out of his way to come and see them, even booking a room in the local hotel for a few nights. As far as he could tell, it was much the same situation with Mrs Schnee, Weiss and Winter. Taiyang could only guess that the five of them were off somewhere causing havoc. Yang still came to the gym pretty much every day, and he'd have casual chats with her while they both worked out. Sometimes, like a few days ago, he'd be treated to a few spars.

Mrs Schnee on the other hand, looked downright lonely.

Sure enough, being the wife of who might probably be the richest man in Atlas, if not all of Remnant, brought its benefits, but Taiyang wasn't stupid. He was clearly a working man and her daughters didn't have that close of a bond with her, so she spent most of her time alone. After a couple conversations, a bit of "getting to know you" stuff and all that, the two started to spend more time in each other's company.

Earlier that day, Yang had come along for her usual session and brought along Crescent Rose, Ruby's scythe, and placed it in the corner. She said that the girl tried to cut cookie dough or something with it and Weiss demanded she had it confiscated. After about an hour, declining a game of scythe hot-potato, Yang had bolted off once again saying she needed to go look for Blake. The elusive girl was apparently rather hard to find, and so she had to spare the extra time to go looking for Blake if she wasn't in the dorm nor library.

It was only a couple minutes after Yang had left, that in corner of the gym, next to some of the benches, lay a red metal boxy-looking thing. He went over and picked it up, identifying the object as Crescent Rose which Yang had brought earlier - deducing that she forgot to take it with her, and left it here by accident. No matter, Taiyang thought, it wouldn't take long for her to come and collect it.

Just as he heard the door open and then close again, he swiveled around on the bench, Crescent Rose in hand (still in it's compact form of course) and shouted out, "Hey, Yang! You left Ruby's- oh."

The person who walked through the door was not blonde; no, she had perfect white hair, much like her daughters, and wore a fine and very expensive looking dress. Mrs Schnee had popped down to say hello then, it seemed.

"Mrs Schnee," Taiyang quickly greeted the lady, bowing slightly. No matter how hard he wanted to treat everyone equally, he  _knew_  that greeting the richest family in Remnant as if they are old friends might be taken as just a little bit insulting.

"Mister… Xiao Long, was it?" The woman's voice was not of the cold aristocrat Taiyang expected her to be. This woman surprised him with her gentleness that really was not what he thought people like her possess to a commoner. After he nodded to the woman, confirming that his last name was indeed Xiao Long, she continued.

"I'm not very good at foreign languages. Would you mind explaining what your last name means?"

That was usually the first thing he had to explain about himself, so he was used to it by now and didn't take it as an insult. Not that he'd ever want to say that a Schnee insulted him.

"Xiao Long means 'Little Dragon'. If you combine that with my first name, it translates to 'Little Sun Dragon'. My older daughter basically has the same name as me as Yang also means 'Sun'. So we're both little sun dragons."

If Taiyang was frank, he always loved what his name meant. And after his first daughter was born, her hair a wonderful blonde colour even at birth, he just  _had_ to name her Yang. He only later realized that they practically share a name. But at that point, he refused to let it bother him.

"I see. Interesting, indeed. Tell me, Mr Xiao Long, how come your other daughter doesn't share your last name?"

At this point, Taiyang's expression fell slightly, which the woman caught immediately.

"That is, if it isn't too personal, of course."

His mouth twitched into a smile.  _For an aristocrat, she's definitely not too bad as a person._  "Mrs, it really isn't nothing I haven't told before. However, you must decide if the sort of sad story like mine is worthy of your time."

"What the hell else am I supposed to do with my time? There's literally nothing for me to do in this academy. I'm not a fighter. I have to spend my time somehow. Might as well get to know the parent of two of my daughter's teammates."

"When you put it that way…" He had to smile a bit more at the honesty the woman had. "It's not that long a story, but it might take a while anyway, so… Would you like to sit down?" He motioned to the bench he was still standing next to. Mrs Schnee nodded and sat down before being joined with the father.

"It all started right here, to be honest. I was on a team with my brother Qrow, Raven and Summer. We were very good friends, but I was especially close with Raven. Even more than my brother. Around our second year, we kinda spent more and more time together. Luckily, we were partners in the team, so it wasn't all too weird to the other two. Then it just… Happened.

I don't know how, but one day, as we were in this very gym, she just got up to me and said 'Tai, I just need to get this off my chest.' Of course I was hoping she'd say the words I wanted to say to her too. But she did something even better. She straight up kissed me. After we recovered from the shock, we just… Stood there for a while. Then she said 'How do we tell this to Qrow and Summer so they freak out the most?' I knew in this instant she was my true love. Someone that liked to horse around as much as I did.

Then, a few years later, we graduated and I built a house on Patch. For the two of us and the potential kids. Then Yang happened. We were the happiest, for a while. Then Raven started getting weirder. But not the good kind of weird. Like, she would disappear for days at a time and then not tell me anything. Some day she just left and never got back."

Mrs Schnee's eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"As devastated as I was, I knew I had to move on with my life. So I reunited with my two remaining teammates and found out they were still doing missions as partners. I offered to join and they were happy to take me aboard. There were times when missions got harder than ever. One of those missions, Summer didn't see a Deathstalker coming from behind and I wasn't thinking at all. I just jumped in front of the monster and deflected the hit, but got hit myself in the process. All I remember after that is that I still had consciousness for a few seconds. And saw those silver eyes of hers look at me with worry. Then it all went black.

When I came about, I was lying on a bed and felt sharp pain in my chest. I still have the scar from the stinger. Nasty bugger, pardon my language. Summer was next to my bed, treating my chest bandage. I looked at her and she still had the same worried expression. She then noticed I was awake and was pleasantly surprised. She spoke no words, but I knew what she was saying. Her eyes were an open book. Those same silver eyes Ruby got. If you look in her eyes long enough, you can always tell what she's thinking about. Summer was like that too. With her, you always knew where you stood. I always admired that in her. Sadly, two years after Ruby was born, Summer went on her final mission, though not by volition. She wanted to go on many more missions, but the herd of Boarbatusks and Beowolves was apparently too much for one person. Well - I mean, that's what the report said, anyway..."

Mrs Schnee listened to the whole story intently, more intently than just 'passing the time'. When Taiyang ended his story, she was trying to remain a dignified lady and hold back the tears that welled in her eyes. She shut her eyes and took a long, deep breath to calm down before speaking again.

"That's a very sad story, mister."

"If you don't mind, you can call me Taiyang. Everybody does."

"I'm not promising anything," the woman said. "I can't even begin to understand the pain you went through. But it seems that your love for your daughters helped shape them into the individuals they are. Tell me one thing, though. How come Yang is so much more… How should I put it? Flamboyant?"

Taiyang chuckled. "Heh. That's mine and Raven's genes. We were both very open with our views and didn't fear expressing them. Summer was more… Collected. While her eyes always told you her position, she was much less vocal about it. I guess Ruby took that much more from her than from me. Given her obsession with that scythe of hers, sometimes I think she's not even my daughter, but rather Qrow's. He is a lot like her in that regard. Obsessed with his weapon. He helped her craft it and taught her how to wield it. His expertise in scythes helped a lot too."

Mrs Schnee nodded. Taiyang thought of something and decided to take the plunge.  _For Ruby._

"Mrs?"

"If you will insist on me calling you Taiyang, you'll have to call me Bianca."

"Okay then." That was unlike anything Taiyang ever experienced while talking with a higher-class person. "Mrs… Bianca, would you mind if I asked you something about your daughters?"

"I guess I still have time to spare, so why not?"

"What are they like? Like, personality-wise? They seem almost like my daughters. But I'm sure you know so much more about them than I was able to find out in the short time I spent with them."

The woman wrinkled her forehead. "Winter is a handful, I must give you that. She's very often what you'd call cheeky. She just loves to prod and annoy Weiss. As you can imagine, their lessons were a pain. Winter was more interested in annoying Weiss than actually learning anything. She still learned a lot and is by no means stupid, but Weiss definitely has her beat in that sense. Weiss is almost a complete opposite to her. Calm, collected, refined… She really is her father's daughter."

It seemed weird to Taiyang that she, as collected as she was, referred to Weiss as 'her father's daughter'. _How much calmer must Mr Schnee be?_  Bianca's story went on.

"It's really funny in a sense how unlike each other they are. And, between you and me, I'm very happy Weiss is the heiress and not Winter. As much as I love Winter, she's not cut to lead a company like Schnee Dust Company."

There was something in the woman's tone that Taiyang recognized from somewhere. He just had to ask, no matter how dangerous it was.

"Bianca… Are you, by any chance, from here?"

"Does it show that much?", came the answer, almost instantly.

The answer took Taiyang aback. "I'm… Sorry?"

The woman sighed. "Yes, Taiyang, I'm from Vale. Not even from the higher-up parts of Vale. I used to be a commoner like you. Then one day, as I was waitressing at the Schnee Company party in uptown Vale, he asked me to serve him personally. And we kind of went from there. No matter how much I dye my hair white, I'll never be Atlesian. He went through a lot to marry me. I'm pretty sure he's seen by his family as some sort of an outcast, but they still allowed him to lead the company, so maybe he isn't seen as that bad. I tried to mask my accent very hard, but honestly, this charade of acting as an aristocrat is starting to get to me. Me and my old family have a safe life, I can have everything I dreamed of when I was a child, but once you get to experience it, it's not really all that it seems."

Taiyang looked at her and saw nothing but sincerity. "Bianca…"

"Don't worry, I'm not sad. However, I'd appreciate if this bit of information is kept between us, all right? Not even my daughters know that."

He raised up his right hand. "I swear this information is never leaving my mouth without your permission."

She sighed again. "I know that sooner or later I'll have to tell them what I really am. I am just slightly afraid they'd think less of me when I do."

Taiyang took a bold step and put his hand on her shoulder. Even if she was once a commoner, she was a Schnee now and the gesture, as kind and innocent as it was, could easily be understood incorrectly. "You're still their mother. They'll never forget that. Look at my daughters. Neither of them really knew their mothers, but Yang wants to find her and Ruby dedicated her life to being a Huntress so she could be just like Summer. Weiss and Winter won't think less of you once you do tell them, I'm sure."  _And maybe not just because you're their mother,_  he wanted to say, but decided against it.

The woman thanked him with a smile and the conversation went on for hours before either of them realized that it was getting late and that they'd miss Yang's fight with Pyrrha if they didn't get a move on.

* * *

"Oh, shit, Ruby's scythe! I knew I forgot something. Dammit Blake, it's your job to remember stuff I don't!"

Blake looked at the blonde girl, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not sure it is."

* * *

Unlike the previous matches leading up to the semi-finals, all of the seats in the stadium were now filled. People crowded in and filled the hundreds of seats surrounding the stage and many looked eager to see the next match.

It had already been decided that Yang should face Pyrrha in the first semi final match. Blake would then face Ren, Weiss would compete against Velvet (the girl having gotten surprisingly far in the tournament thus far) and most interestingly, Ruby would face off against the only non-Beacon student left in the bracket, Reese from team ABRN. The dominance of Beacon in the tournament was in line with the reputation the academy had, but it was still mildly surprising that only one person was able to get that far.

Yang and Pyrrha took up their positions on the stage flanking Professor Goodwitch on either side. The two were good friends, and even better fighters, so there was quite a lot riding on the match. The other members of teams RWBY, JNPR and CFVY (see: Coco, Nora and Blake) had even put their bets on the match and laid their money on the table. Coco and Nora backed Pyrrha, whilst Blake backed Yang alone. Why she was betting, she had no idea, but it seemed important at the time.

The professor tapped on the mic and cleared her throat, listening as the excited chatter of the wide audience dulled down into a barely audible mumble.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen; today, we shall be hosting the first of four semi-final matches of the Vytal tournament. Our first matchup shall be Ms Xiao Long, and Ms Nikos. The match shall begin once the countdown has ended, and end once one of the two participants' aura reaches the red zone. Do I make myself clear, ladies?"

Both girls nodded. Pyrrha sported a bit of a grin, whilst Yang held the full cheshire cat smile.

"Good. Then, whenever you're ready. Best of luck to the both of you."

The huge crowd quietened more and more as the numbers dropped lower and lower, from ten to five, and then down to one, until the screen finally bore the number zero and an electronic beep sounded.

Immediately after the countdown stopped and the match started, the two girls ran for eachother. Pyrrha took up a defensive approach, holding her shield high in her left hand and her sword off in her right. Yang, not really holding her weapons so much as wearing them, held her left hand in the fore and her right just behind, ready to meet Pyrrha in the centre of the stage.

The two clashed with a tremendous crash, courtesy of Ember Celica, as Yang pounded her right gauntlet straight into Pyrrha's waiting shield. The force pushed the redhead back slightly, but she held fast and was already bringing her sword upwards into Yang's forearm. When the blonde sidestepped to the right, Pyrrha made a surprise move and twisted her whole body around. Her shield cut straight across Yang, and nearly bashed her, had she not slammed it back downwards at the last minute with her left gauntlet.

Yang's right hand shot straight upwards, almost catching Pyrrha off guard as it smashed through her sword's pommel held in defense and sent the warrior hurtling upwards. Still flying upwards, Pyrrha finally made use of her semblance - there was no point in hiding it if your enemy knew what it was, she reckoned - and pulled her shield from in front of her chest to below her feet. As she reached the apex of her flight, the girl kicked off her shield and flew straight back towards the ground with her sword bared.

Yang was forced to back off as the spartan made impact with the ground and instantly threw her shield back around towards the girl. Pyrrha then charged forwards again, now with both weapons in hand and taking up a much more aggressive posture. She swiped high for Yang's head and blocked a flying left-handed gauntlet punch with her shield, but completely missed the blonde's footwork. A solid kick to the side of Pyrrha's legs put the girl flat on her back and scrambling to recover.

She wasn't planning to waste this opportunity, and she wasn't going to; Yang barrelled straight downwards and planted a solid round of buckshot into Pyrrha's face, depleting her aura by a significant margin. If the redhead hadn't regained her senses and kicked Yang off with her surprising leg strength, it's likely that Yang would have straddled the girl and pummelled her into a crisp.

Pyrrha noted not to let that happen.

She took a look around her and saw the large stands cheering the two of them on - it was almost a clear 50/50 split between supporters of her and supporters of Yang. Though, Ruby was cheering extra loud, so she could probably count for five, maybe ten people extra.

Both fighters were now back on their feet, after having taken a miniature break. Yang needed to put a new belt of shells in her gauntlets, and Pyrrha needed to recover a bit of her precious oxygen. Of course, it was not long until both girls were once again charging at each other, depending on making the next blow count to deal some serious damage.

Pyrrha made first contact, and experimented with a few slashes to various parts of Yang's body, which she blocked with ease: one to the neck, another to the side, she managed to catch them all. In a surprise move, Yang then grabbed Pyrrha's shield, yanked it from the redhead's grip and bashed her with it before throwing it far away. This drastically reduced Pyrrha's defensive capabilities, and became vulnerable as she desperately swiped at the punches Yang was now tearing into her with.

She threw out her hand, whilst deftly rolling to the side, not expecting her next move to work at all; utilising her semblance, she grabbed her shield from afar and watched as it flew dead straight into the approaching Yang's back with blinding speed. A cry of pain barely escaped her lips as she went tumbling, completely unprepared for the sudden shield striking her, some ways across the stage.

In one smooth maneuver, Pyrrha spun around and pulled her shield straight back onto its rightful arm, whilst simultaneously working her sword much like a lever into its rifle mode. Finishing the full turn, Pyrrha then knelt down before unleashing a hail of gunfire at the still recovering blonde, her aura taking the brunt of the damage.

Much to Pyrrha's surprise (again), Yang made another bold move - launching straight at her, by slamming both gauntlets into the ground and propelling herself at the less-than-prepared redhead. She was apparently used to this move, being able to effectively twist her body with surprising agility mid-air and nail a buckshot laden punch into Pyrrha's shield. Said attack was so hard, Pyrrha actually had to push with all her might in order not to topple under the girl's immense power.

_It's nice to have a challenge once in a while. We should fight more often._

She dug her heel in and with renewed determination, lunged for the blonde who too was coming for her. Elongating her sword into its spear form, the weapon now possessed incredible range and handed the redhead a distinct advantage. Pyrrha wielded the spear much like a staff and cut off any attacks which Yang tried to connect, the girl only hitting harder and harder with each punch. She couldn't remember the last time she had broken a proper sweat like this in the heat of a spar.

Pyrrha planted a foot in Yang's stomach, eliciting an 'oof' from the girl, before she wrapped her arms around the brawler's neck and began to rather gracefully twist around atop her and whacking her face with the shield. Yang growled and threw her off, much  _less_ gracefully, and forcefully kicked Pyrrha far upwards with the better part of her shin, getting a graze from the thrown spear in return.

So she wanted to fight with her legs? Pyrrha could use her legs.

This was so eloquently demonstrated when, upon rolling for the landing, she remained on the ground and guided Yang over her with just her feet. Clearly, pouncing for Pyrrha with her gauntlets at the fore was not the best of ideas. She flipped straight onto her back, and with brutal precision, spun on one foot and  _clotheslined_ the girl with her whole leg in a groan of pain.

Yang's aura was now getting dangerously low, being a dark orange, whilst Pyrrha fared not much better; a slowly dulling yellow greeting her eyes.

"Yang," Pyrrha said, her voice echoing throughout the almost dead-silent stadium, "you're fantastic, but what says we finish this fight?"

Yang wheezed and picked herself up, hair set ablaze and her eyes a deep crimson. "Yeah. You're on, Pyrrha."

The thick tension in the silent atmosphere cut like a coiled spring, as both fighters sprang towards each other for what would seem to be the last time. What attempt Pyrrha had made at Yang was instantly ruined as the gauntleted fist shot straight through the girl's defence and hit her like a truck. Pyrrha had heard stories about Yang's semblance, about how she dealt more and more damage, but they clearly hadn't gotten a slug straight to the gut before when she was like this. The pain was mortifying.

Still, though, she fought on, swiftly ducking and weaving through some hooks but getting hit by others, and hit  _hard_ at that. The fact that Yang's figure was completely engulfed in flames didn't help whet the redhead's furious sweating from intense concentration. She was surprised the girl hadn't burnt her clothes off, because that'd draw  _more_ than a few stares.

Pyrrha fought on in some of the closest combat she'd ever fared; being pummelled by a multitude of strikes from any and all directions, all courtesy of the fiery (and maybe a little angry) Yang. She'd need to think on her feet, and that she did, quite literally - she grabbed Yang's gauntlets as she ducked under the incoming lunge, slid underneath the strike and tackled Yang's legs straight out from underneath her. Legs which seemed to be firmly planted in the ground at first had just completely toppled as the brawler came crashing down in the dying embers of heat.

And to top it off, Pyrrha twisted her whole body and dug her elbow straight into the falling blonde's face. She watched with victorious satisfaction as the seriously dark orange of Yang's aura bar tumbled off the edge and into the red abyss after having hanged for so long.

The whole audience was completely silent… And then erupted into cheers and chants, louder than any crashing Mistralian waves she ever heard back at home. People were stood up, whistling, waving and clapping as the lights slowly faded back to life. She could see the rest of team JNPR come barrelling down the stairs in order to reach her and talk as quickly as possible; team RWBY's remnants rushing down to get to Yang's side.

Somewhat worryingly, she was still yet to move after the decisive blow. Ruby seemed to be the most worried, though for some reason Blake wasn't far behind in her worry. Ruby then felt a twitch. Something that she learned a long time ago. When she felt that twitch, it was for her own safety that she went away. So she quickly explained the thing to Weiss and especially Blake, who still had her eyes locked on the motionless blonde and pulled them away.

A thunderous explosion boomed through the stadium and the cheers stopped as the smoke from the explosion engulfed the arena. When the dust settled, Ruby saw Yang standing in the middle of the arena, eyes red with wrath and hair on fire. Blake jumped forward but Ruby quickly grabbed the faunus' hand to keep her still. She knew there was no use in trying to talk to her in that moment.

The blonde seemed to notice Ruby and the rest of her team at the sidelines.

"Don't come after me. I'll come back myself."

She then turned around and left the arena without looking black, hair still on fire. The three girls left behind looked at each other and Ruby shrugged.

"Eh, she knows what she's doing. It's her way of dealing with losses. Let's listen to her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Yang lost. Oh boy. She's angry. Thanks again to my co-writer Jack who wrote the fight!
> 
> I hope you liked the (likely completely wrong) backstory on Weiss' mother too.


	16. Chapter 16

Team SSSN stood in the cafeteria, bustling with activity after the intense match between Yang and Pyrrha not even minutes beforehand. The heated battle really had people talking, if the odd outburst from Yang didn't have them already. Scarlet held a camera up against his shoulder, filming Sun and Sage. Sun held a microphone up to his face, whilst Sage looked around for his target.

That was when Sun grabbed Sage's shoulder and twisted him around, pointing in a vague direction at something in the cafeteria.

"THERE'S NEWS, SAGE!" he shouted.

Even louder, Sun shouted "TEAM SSSN LADS ACTION NEWS TEEEAAAAMMM!" at the top of his lungs, before the two of them charged off into the crowd. Scarlet hurriedly ran after the two, desperately calling "Sun! Sage! Boys! Wait up!"

The small sea of parents and hunters-in-training was separated as the trio leapt through the crowd, over dining tables, and into unfortunate dinner-goers' meals. The cable between the camera Scarlet was holding and the microphone Sun was holding almost tripped up the red-haired boy several times, with a bit of a wail.

Team SSSN stopped and knelt down, as they attempted to catch their breath following the quick sprint around and over the tables. Sun fell into a bench whilst Sage collapsed over the table behind them. The camera was pointed far downwards and heavy breathing could be heard from Scarlet.

"Oi, lads," he spoke up between heavy breaths, "what 'appened to Neptune? I swear he was here like, five minutes ago, or something. Bloody hell…"

Sun looked up and his eyes rolled. "Oh. Yeah. Forgot about him. Oh well, I'm sure he's somewhere having his balls crushed, by Weiss, or whoever he hit on today. Fuck me I'm tired…"

Sage rolled over and groaned a little bit, mumbling something along the lines of "Fucker's probably dead."

Sun then hopped up onto his feet, having successfully kicked over far more chairs than necessary. "Lads, come on," he began, "We still need to go and find the NEWS!"

Sage shot up like a spring and was instantly on his feet, snatching the microphone from Sun and sprinting past Scarlet screaming "TEAM SSSN LADS ACTION NEWS TEEEEEAAAAAMMmmm…"

It didn't take long for the other two to catch up to him, the camera shaking furiously as Scarlet tried to film whatever was going on in front of him. The recording was mostly people looking confused, shouting, or moving out of the way in a  _very_ shaky video. They finally arrived to where Sage was, where they found…

"So, tall, dark and handsome; you come here often?" He had a ridiculous grin on his face, and lay on team CFVY's table in the 'french girl' pose. Yatsuhashi had absolutely no idea what was going on, until Sun ran straight into his back. He stole the microphone from Sage and jammed it in his face (as if Sage wasn't already doing that) and spoke to him very quickly.

"So, dude, uh, what's the news? You got any news? Any good news?"

Yatsuhashi looked a little bit lost, as he gazed over to his teammates for help. Fox continued to eat whilst Coco observed his predicament and Velvet went over to the bar to see if they had any more salad.

"No, wait, wait wait wait. If you could fuck  _any one_ of us, who would ya choose?" Sage butted in and started asking his own questions.

"Um." By this point, Coco was giggling.

"What's your opinion on Scarlet's huge nose?"

"Piss off, Sage!"

"I… uh…" He decided to remain quiet, as there seemed to be literally no good outcome to this.

Sun forcefully yanked the microphone out of Sage's hand and pointed towards the meal he was eating. "Hey, bro," he asked, "isn't that a full glass of water?"

Yatsuhashi nodded.

"Pretty dangerous havin' a full cup of water around here, you know…"

Yatsuhashi was about to ask why, before Sage leapt off of the table and spun around, sticking his leg out and kicking the glass straight off of the table. It's contents spilled everywhere, but the glass had fortunately not smashed. Coco was laughing so hard she was wheezing by this point.

"Ahaha! Oh shit, man, you got done  _in!_ "

Velvet strutted towards the intruding boys, holding her salad, and did not look best impressed that Yatsuhashi was being harassed by the three.

"Oh fuck, Sage, boy, it's the backup! FUCKIN' RUN!"

Velvet was about to give chase, but gave up as she watched team SSSN barrel through the crowd with little regard to where they were going. She heard Scarlet give out a surprised squawk as he fell flat on his face, tripping over the wiring, and Sun shouting "You got fucked!"

Team RWBY, minus Yang - who sat in their dorm, doing gods only know what - were seated at the table they had claimed as their own at the start of the year. Taiyang and Mrs Schnee had left a few minutes ago, saying they would go on a walk, leaving Winter with them. All four of the girls were concerned for Yang's safety, because it was never normal for something like  _that_ to happen. While, yes, she had emotional outbursts, she had never  _literally_ exploded, just set mildly ablaze. Apparently the staff had to order new windows in the theatre where the combat took place, because it shattered the glass - or so Ruby had heard.

And, obviously, it wouldn't be the only thing she would be hearing today…

"What's that shouting all about?" Ruby turned to Weiss for an answer, as they both listened out for the approaching shouts and screams of one, or multiple, people. Blake's ears perked up, thankfully unnoticed by Weiss, and she quickly turned to them saying "For what's about to happen, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what, Bla-"

"TEEAAMM SSSN LADS ACTION NEWS TEEEAAAMMM!"

"GIRLS! GIRLS! ANY OF YA GOT ANY NEWS?" Ruby very quickly found a microphone shoved in her face courtesy of Sun, with Sage close by looking just as excited and out of breath, with Scarlet filming it all.

"Uh, Sun? What's all this?"

Sage looked at her incredulously. "Seriously? Are you like, some kind of social hermit or something?"

Maybe? "Well, I mean, I don't know-"

Sun cut in, shouting "It's team SSSN's lads action news team! Look at the mic! What else could it possibly be?!"

Taking a closer look at the microphone, Ruby found that yes, it infact had a sticker on it with the silhouettes of the four boys emblazoned with the words "TEAM SSSN LADS ACTION NEWS TEAM".

Weiss stuck her hand out, and asked "Stop. If it's called Team SSSN 'news team', then where is Neptune? Is he not the N of the team?"

Sage kicked back on the bench, right next to Winter, seemingly not caring. He rolled his eyes and retorted with "Uh, he's boring? Can't keep up? This is a very difficult job, and if you ain't cut up for it, then you get cut boys!"

The three of them cheered and shared a high-five. Scarlet missed and ended up flat on his face, again, tripping over a wire pulled taut by Sun. He screeched as he fell down, and then groaned.

"Dammit Sun!"

"Hah, 'ya fuckin' idiot."

That was when Sage pulled the microphone from Sun and leapt over the table, sticking it in Blake's face next. "So, Blake, bro, you got any news for us either?"

She glared at him as she turned the page in his book. "No. Get lost."

"Jeez, way to be a bummer."

"HEADS UP!" The call came barely seconds before Scarlet slid straight across the table, Sun obviously winning the little slapfight the two engaged in. The boy had thrown him and now had his hands on his knees, trying to stand whilst laughing. Scarlet screamed as he slid along the table, inadvertently kicking a very pissed off Blake in the face, and falling straight off the other end. Weiss had to resist the very strong urges to skewer the three of them.

"Five seconds. Five seconds is what I'll give you to get out of my sight  _right now,_ Sun. You two as well."

Sage, having recovered from his bout of laughter, looked at her with a twisted head. "Nah, we don't feel like it."

"Four." Blake's eyes narrowed dangerously and her hand had deposited the book on the ruined table, reaching for Gambol Shroud.

"OH SHIT BOYS!" shouted Scarlet as he scrambled to his feet among tuna sandwiches, "FUCKIN' RUN LADS!"

"Wait, Scarlet, no, what's up? Why?" Sun held him in place while the wide eyed Scarlet pointed behind him, behind Sage, and towards the headmaster and his assistant walking into the suddenly quieter cafeteria.

"SHIT! IT'S THE COPS!"

"IT'S THE BLOODY ROZZERS!  _LEG IT!_ "

All three of them were screaming the words "TEAM SSSN LADS ACTION NEWS TEAM" as they dashed towards the door in hopes of escaping Mrs Goodwitch's wrath. They jumped towards the door, equipment in hand, the whole cafeteria staring at them.

Unfortunately; they missed. Instead, the 'news team' hit and went straight through the windows. Coco was the only person who dared to laugh.

"Duuude…" Sage's groan broke through and echoed throughout the cafeteria, "We are in  _so_ much shit."

"Yeah… We know, shitdick."

"Fackin' hell…"

* * *

The day has turned into evening and then night, but Yang still hadn't returned since her explosion. Ruby lay in her bed, looking at the ceiling, worried sick. Weiss was looking at the bottom of Ruby's bed, worrying about Ruby worrying.

Blake, on the other side of the room, was also looking at the bottom of the bed above her, trying to make sense of what happened earlier today.  _No, not the stupid team SSSN that ruined the meal earlier, but what happened to Yang?_  Truth be told, she missed the rowdy berserker's light snoring, very audible to Blake's cat ears. They calmed her down and helped her fall asleep. Not that night, though, it would appear.

She would not admit it to anyone, but she missed the whole package the blonde brought to the table. Her carefree personality, her loudness, her stupidly long and unkempt blonde hair, her more pronounced features… You get the point. And the reason why she wouldn't admit it was that she was afraid. Not of what Yang would do when she found out, but because, assuming Yang would return the feelings, her past might catch up with her again. And if that were about to happen, Blake would stand to lose more than friends. She simply didn't want to inflict that amount of pain on anyone.

She was also worried for Yang's safety, but she told herself that a huntress-in-training with Yang's dispositions shouldn't be in danger while outside.

She thought she sensed someone singing outside, and that it was  _very_  off-key. She attributed it to her overactive imagination.

Weiss tried not to worry about Yang, but she couldn't help but worry about Ruby, who seemed very absent since Yang ran away. She didn't even remember to kiss Weiss goodnight as she always did. She also wasn't the bubbly Ruby Rose she learned to love. She barely spoke to or acknowledged anyone.

Weiss knew how much Yang meant to Ruby, but she also knew that Yang knew how to take care of herself. She tried to explain that to the unusually quiet girl, but she just shrugged and looked away.

The girl Weiss was worrying about hadn't moved from her spot since she got out of the bathroom. Something about Yang's outbreak scared her. It was more than her usual rage.  _Did she want to win that much? She_ was  _always competitive._

Then she thought she heard something familiar. She strained her ears, in that moment wishing she was a Faunus so she would be sure if the voice was really there or if she was just imagining it.

The voice grew stronger and stronger, though. And after a while, she could discern that the voice was definitely female and it was singing (or rather, trying to sing, but horribly off-key). She recognized the voice soon after and her heart skipped a beat.

She was back. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief, jumped up to her knees and watched the door, waiting for them to open.

Then she heard stomping as the voice was coming closer and closer.  _Is she alone? This can't be her steps._  In that moment, Ruby paled at the thought that she went out to hook up with someone and bring that person here, completely disregarding her team and wanting to do… Stuff with that person right there, in front of all of them.

From time to time, as steps came ever closer, Ruby heard a muffled thud, as if someone or something hit the wall.

Finally, the door opened. By that time, Weiss and Blake were up too, prepared for anything. In came, or better, stumbled, Yang. Alone.

There was definitely something wrong with her, though. She fell on the floor face-first, which made her stop singing and the trio was very happy with that. But, after she fell, Yang didn't jump straight back at her feet and instead started… Moaning?

Ruby was approaching Yang slowly and unsurely while the other two just watched.

"Yang... Are you okay?" Ruby asked as she got close enough to her. Her moaning didn't stop, though, and it seemed like her hands were clutching her stomach. Ruby was paler than the wall. _Who hurt you this much?_

"Yang, who did this to you?"

Through moans and occasional hiccoughs, Yang managed to say "I did."

Not only did that not help Ruby, but it also opened up a whole lot new questions.

"Y-You did?", she managed to stutter out. "B-But how? Why?"

Yang grunted and tried to make herself sit up, which proved rather hard, given her predicament. Somehow she managed to do it and only then did Ruby see how weird Yang's face was. Her eyes were bloodshot, her makeup ruined, mascara running down her cheeks, leaving behind black lines. Her mouth was open and she smelt funny. She was also panting a lot, as if extremely tired.

"S-Sis…" Before Yang could continue, she suddenly covered her mouth with her hands and picked herself up to run for the bathroom. Ruby was looking at her sister with concern, and then she heard a weird gurgling noise coming from inside the bathroom. She looked around at her two teammates, trying to make sense of what was happening.

"D-Does any one of you two know what she meant by that? How did she do this to herself?"

Blake looked at Weiss who seemed a bit less clueless than Ruby, but it was quite obvious she was the only one that knew exactly what it was Yang did to herself to be like that.

She sighed. "Ruby, your sister is drunk. She drank too much alcohol, that's why she's like she is."

It was obvious Ruby didn't have the slightest idea what Blake was talking about. "A-Alcohol? What is that?"

"I'm not gonna be teaching you chemistry here, but I'll tell you this: some drinks contain alcohol. If you drink a lot of those, you get drunk. If you drink after you're drunk already, you become like Yang now."

The gurgling from the bathroom stopped and now the girls heard water running.

"So, she's gonna be like this now forever?"

"Oh, Dust no." Blake couldn't believe a 15 year old could know that little about alcohol. "She'll be fine by the morning. Well, not perfectly fine."

"What do you mean?"

"Uhh… Her head will probably hurt like hell. She seems to have drunk a whole lot."

"B-But what is she doing now?" The stuff Blake was telling her didn't really make any sense to the reaper.  _Why would people want to hurt themselves like this? Why did Yang do it?_

"Sometimes, when you drink too much alcohol, you vomit because you feel too sick."

With that, Yang stumbled out the bathroom, having cleaned herself up somewhat and putting on some perfume for some reason. Blake didn't mind it as she found herself in a crushing hug from her partner. She was also talking quite loudly, which wasn't really gentle on her sensitive ears.

"You're the best kitty in the world, Blake! I love you so much!" She then tried to plant a kiss on the Faunus' mouth, but Blake used her lightning reflexes to turn her face enough that the kiss only reached her cheek. Yang pouted, but let go and jumped on Ruby.

"Rubles! Did I ever tell you you're the best sister in the world?"

"N-Not in a while, Yang."

"Well, I should do that more often then! Oh, and also, you're one lucky girl, you know that? To have both Sch-"

Suddenly Yang felt a hand around her mouth and it muffled whatever it was she wanted to say. Then a piercing squeal of "YAAAAAANG!" was heard from Ruby's mouth, whose face was at least as red as her namesake at that point.

Weiss heard and knew what Yang was about to say too. She widened her lips in a small smile and started planning her next move.

"What was that Yang was saying, Ruby?", she asked with feigned jealousy, which of course made Ruby nervous and scared.

"H-Huh? What do y-you mean? She's j-just blabbering ab-about, you know."

"Then why are you so red in the face? And stuttering that much?"

"I… I'm not used to it. Not like this."

"Yang," Weiss turned towards the blonde, "what did you want to say? Ruby, let go of her mouth."

"N-No!"

"Why? I mean, it's just blabbering, isn't it?"

"W-Well maybe I just don't want her to bore you with her blabbering then!"

"On the contrary, I'm very interested in that. What she wanted to say was a funny thing, judging by your reaction."

"N-No, Weiss. Please, just let it go." Ruby then turned to Yang "You… Just stay quiet, okay?" Then she finally let go of her sister's mouth. There was a wicked smile on Yang's face as her mouth was finally free again.

"Rubles… You still didn't tell them?"

Weiss perked up at the words. "Told us what?"

"Yang, I told you to shut up!"

"Told us  _what_ , Ruby?"

At that point, Ruby was shaking with fear and betrayal. She didn't want to risk telling Weiss the truth, but on the other hand it was obvious she would not be able to hold the charade much longer.  _But maybe, just maybe, when the tournament ends, Winter will go and then it'll be much easier to handle_. In her infinite judgment she decided not to tell the truth.

She scratched the back of her head. "Uhh… That you two are the best teammates I could ever ask for?"

Weiss was a little surprised at the lie. If she were honest, it felt good to hear that coming from Ruby. It was still an obvious lie, but it was definitely something she really meant. Ruby was not the kind of person to lie about stuff like that.  _Might have to do with that gun-obsessed personality she has._

"And what was it  _really_ that you haven't told us? I'm not that dense, Ruby," Weiss said, dragging on the painful torture further for Ruby.

Sweating buckets, she shouted "No! Seriously! You're, both, like, amazing teammates, and I couldn't have wished for anyone else, and-and-" Ruby was tripping over her own words at this point trying to avoid the actual point.

"Mmm. I'll believe you then," said Weiss, looking strangely amused. "I mean, we  _are_ pretty great, after all."

"AND SO ARE MY BOOBS!" Yang slurred, coming out of nowhere and falling over on Weiss. She then began to laugh uncontrollably, saying "Get it? Like, you know, because I have such amazing boobs and I'm the best big sister in the world and  _everything,_ right Ruby?"

"Yang, you, uh… You're really not okay."

Blake Interfered, having enough of the commotion.

"Yang, Ruby, Weiss, that'll be enough. It's 4 AM and all of us need sleep. Need I remind you that three of us still have to fight in the tournament?  _One_  of us tomorrow, or rather, today already? Yang, get yourself cleaned up a bit more and then come to bed. You can sleep on mine since you aren't able to climb into yours."  _And just maybe we could cuddle a bit, even if you're drunk._ "Ruby, Weiss, go to bed right now and I don't want to hear another word of it. Did I make myself clear?"

Yang saluted. "Yes, boss! At once, boss!" The other three girls just rolled their eyes at her antics while she was giggling like a madman all the way to the bathroom. Blake, Weiss and Ruby quickly got into their beds and closed their eyes.

Yang returned to the room soon after, dressed only in her bra and panties, yellow of course. She was smirking to herself, vaguely remembering something about Blake telling her to cuddle with her or whatever. All she knew was that Blake wanted  _her_  in her  _bed_ , and that was enough for the blonde brawler, who, truth be told, had her eyes set on Blake for a while at that point. She just never let it show all that much.

She clumsily tried to sneak up on Blake, completely ignoring the fact she was a cat Faunus and would easily hear her coming. However, as luck would have it, Blake was already fast asleep, so Yang actually managed to sneak closer.

When she was right next to the bed, she snickered and started giggling at the devious idea that was just about to come to life, so to say.

Then, she pounced.

With a loud hiss, Blake jumped up, glaring daggers at her rambunctious teammate. She spoke with a low and threatening voice. "Yang, if you don't give me a good reason why you just did that in the next five seconds, I swear to Dust…"

Yang's playful voice cut her off. "Y'know, since you're a kitty and I'm a human and I wanted to see how it feels when a cat jumps on one's lap and stuff."

Blake stared at her in disbelief, but somehow her brain decided that it was a valid excuse. She smiled. "Fine. Need a cover?"

"Girlfriend, please. I  _am_  fire, I don't need no stinkin' blankets! By the way," her voice went down, "you won't need a blanket either." After Blake looked at her half in fear and half in amusement, Yang winked at her partner.

Blake said nothing, just threw the blanket on the floor and motioned for Yang to come closer. Without losing a beat, the blonde snuggled close to Blake, who turned around just enough that Yang could easily spoon her.

"Good night, kitty," she whispered in her ear. Thankfully, she was drunk so she didn't feel Blake shivering slightly after the deed.

"Good night, Yang."

But the blonde apparently wasn't done yet. Her hand started exploring Blake's toned belly and started getting up her torso. When she got a little too close, Blake intervened.

"Yang? What are you doing?"

"Oops," was the only answer she received before Yang removed her hand.

Blake smiled, actually feeling relieved that as drunk as Yang was, she still didn't want to cross the line. However, the cat faunus had a wicked idea.

She turned her head around and whispered, "I didn't tell you to stop, you know?"

Yang giggled like a madman as her hand resumed her journey, soon touching the mound of flesh it barely grazed before. Blake let out a silent moan, which brought her back to reality.

As much as she wanted it, she was also very tired and wanted to have a serious good night's rest. Not to mention her other two teammates were in the room. Granted, they were asleep, but still. It felt a bit wrong to let go of her senses with the two around. Not to mention how guilty she'd feel the next day, since what she was doing was basically using Yang for her own pleasure.

"Okay, now I'm telling you to stop. Ruby and Weiss are still here."

Yang said nothing, just slowly let go of Blake's boob and kissed the nape of her neck before falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh... So... That happened.


	17. Chapter 17

Blake felt a shifting body behind her. It was definitely a body of someone that was barely alive enough to move. Then she heard dry coughing and moans of pain before she finally heard a coherent sentence, though it still had a shaky value to it.

"Blake…" Yang pathetically mumbled out.

"Hmm?" She acknowledged Yang.

"Please kill me."

Blake laughed lightly, before getting out of her bed and stretching, her back making some very satisfying pops and cracks. "Maybe you shouldn't have drunk so much, Miss Yang 'Heavyweight' Xiao Long the hungover."

Yang groaned and collapsed, from her sitting up position, back into the bed, holding her head in the process. "It hurts so muuuch…"

Blake said nothing and left for the bathroom, where she filled a glass with water and brought it back to Yang. "Here, a bit of hair of the dog that bit you?"

Yang looked up at Blake in disbelief. "Blake, are you serious right now?"

The black-haired girl laughed. "It's just water, dummy. Drink it, you need it."

The blonde struggled to put herself up to a sitting position and took the glass. She had a sip before grabbing her mouth with her other hand, throwing the glass on the floor and ran for the bathroom. Before long, Blake heard loud retching noises again.

From behind the cat faunus, a slightly perplexed voice of Weiss rang.

"Did you just… Make a pun?"

"Pun?", Blake answered, not too sure what the heiress was getting at.

"Hair of the dog that bit you?"

"How is that a pun?"

Weiss' already pale face paled a bit more after realizing just what she said. "I uh… Thought it was something else or something."

Blake wanted to retort, but she heard the toilet flush, so she turned her attention to the bathroom door. Not too long after that Yang came out, holding the sides of her head while groaning.

"Urkh… Next time I run away like that, try and beat some sense into me. I'm dying."

Before Weiss could begin to reprimand the blonde for getting so drunk, the illustrious leader of team RWBY awoke with a yelp and fell out of her bed. Ruby fell to the floor with an 'oof' and rolled over, eyes still adjusting to the morning daylight.

"Uhh… hi everyone? What time is it?" she asked.

Weiss looked over at the clock, and then back at the girl, responding "It's 9am. It's fairly late in the day."

Yang, who was supporting herself by holding onto the bed, said "That's at least four hours too early princess, I should be waking up past noon like this. Or, not at all. Kill me now."

Winter chose that moment to walk in through the door, only to see a barely conscious Yang, a bleary eyed Ruby, a frustrated Weiss and the surprisingly prepared Blake staring back at her. Ruby had tried to get up but fell over in the process, eliciting giggles from the girls. Winter only had to raise an eyebrow to prompt Blake to say "Yang got very,  _very_ drunk after losing yesterday."

"Oh," Winter said, "So that's what it was?"

Yang shrugged her shoulders. "I'm a big girl, I can handle myself."

"Clearly," Winter said dismissively, though Weiss noticed the disgusted glare her younger sister sent the blonde's way. "Anyways, your father Taiyang told me to inform you that your uncle is visiting. I can't remember what his name was, but, you know. Semantics."

At the news, Ruby immediately perked up and was on her feet.

"Uncle Qrow is coming to visit? Today?! Yang, quick, we need to get ready! Get your clothes on! Stop standing around! We have a great day to prepare for!" Her orderly commands were met by Yang grumbling and falling back onto the bed she supported herself upon.

"Do we have to do it now, or, can I have like five more minutes?"

"No!" Ruby squealed, "Now, now! We need to get going now!"

The answer was more groaning from the blonde, but she did force herself to get up, albeit cupping her face in her hands. The energetic ball of energy that was called Ruby, on the other hand, already dashed out the room.

"What's with her?", Winter asked. "She loves her uncle so much?"

"Her uncle helped her make Crescent Rose. Come to think of it, I think she told me once or twice or fifteen times that he was a scythe wielder too, and that he helped her train," Weiss answered.

Blake decided to help Yang get out of the room. She grabbed her waist with one arm and put one of Yang's arms on her shoulder, effectively carrying her out of the room, muttering a small "See you later, girls" to the Schnee sisters.

Weiss started laughing out loud as soon as Blake left the room, which of course resulted in Winter looking at her as if she just came from an insane asylum. "What's with the laugh, Weiss?"

"I just…" Weiss couldn't finish her sentence without bursting into laughter again. She calmed herself down with a few deep breaths. "Okay. So, yesterday, when Yang came home all drunk, she actually helped me in our plan. Unknowingly, of course."

"Huh?"

"Yang apparently knows about us. Makes sense, when you think of it. But that's not the point. The point is that she wanted to tell her how lucky Ruby is for having both of us. And as you might have expected," her mouth was widening in a smile again, "Ruby didn't take too calmly to that. So I had some fun with her."

Winter pouted. "No fair. You get all the fun with her regarding this."

"I'm her teammate. Not to mention that you weren't completely excluded from it. I seem to recall someone getting caught up in something and resorting to hiding below someone's bed."

Winter nervously looked around, making sure nobody heard what she was about to say. "You know," she started, "when I was down there, you texted me that Blake knows I'm here then. How?"

Weiss thought about it for a minute.  _I don't know what her stance on faunus is. Do I tell her the whole truth?_

"Errr…"  _What to say, what to say?_  "She… Has a great sixth sense?"

"Sister, that's not it. Give it to me straight. Is she a faunus?"

Weiss whispered. "Yes."

Winter paled at that, but managed to hold herself together and not burst. "That… That explains it."

"Are you okay?"

_No I'm not okay, dummy! A faunus caught me masturbating to her smut novel and now I'm in her debt unless I want it be spread that Winter Schnee is a smutmonkey, do you think I'm okay?_

"I've… Been better."

"That reminds me," Weiss said. "I never asked. What do you think of faunus?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in the time I am here, Blake has shown me a different side of the coin. I can't say I fully support their cause, I mean, in the end it's still  _my_  family White Fang is threatening and stealing from, but I've realized not all faunus are criminals."  _Let's not mention that she used to be in the organization, just in case._

"I've always been indifferent to them, to tell you the truth. I never really agreed with our company's policy on them, but I never thought any more of it than that," she shrugged. "It seemed like the natural order of things. Some people rule, others rebel against them. Almost like if we were royalty of some sort."

"Right. Just to be sure you're not… Too bothered by one of my teammates being a faunus."

_That's not what bothers me about her at all, sister. But let's leave that for another day._

"Shall we go see this uncle of Ruby's?", Winter proposed.

"Let's."

* * *

"Hey, what's up scamp?"

"UNCLE QROOOW!"

Ruby had launched herself, literally her entire body, into the tall man. They stood at the port, where Bullheads and airships had landed and docked. Some students headed off into town with their teams, others were just arriving back.

Qrow was a tall man, standing well over 6'3. He had black hair, which seemed to be fading ever so slightly with age, yet somehow gave him a more wisened look. His beard was well trimmed and a scar ran across his cheek. He, like his sister Summer and his niece Ruby, had silver eyes. His clothing was generally of a darker shade, with blacks and greys merging together. Unlike what Blake had initially thought upon seeing the man, he presented a kind warmth with himself, and looked like the type who was willing to hear out anyone's problems.

Of course, attached to his back on a specially made holster, was a box of gleaming black metal. It didn't take much for Weiss to figure out that it was probably his own scythe. Qrow was the man who sparked Ruby's interest in weapons; and so he was probably even more enthusiastic about them than Ruby was. Maybe his scythe was also a minigun, perhaps a flame-thrower. Double sided? Weiss could only guess.

Once Yang had forcibly unlatched Ruby from her uncle, she was immediately set off once again. "Auuugh!" she exclaimed, "I haven't seen you in  _aaages._ I mean, I was totally going to call you on the CCT but I kind of got caught up in all this secret stuff and doing missions and homework and… uh… sorry?"

Qrow laughed in a voice that seemed to be a combination between smooth and gravelly, with years of experience underlying his deeper tone. "Yeah, I've missed you too, scamp. So, are you going to introduce me to these ladies?" he asked, gesturing to the rest of team RWBY. Yang squawked, and shouted "Hey, ya lazy old fart! You didn't forget about little ol'  _me_ here, did you?"

He rolled his eyes, and responded saying "Uh, blonde and brash? Yeah, I don't think i'm going to be forgetting about you any time soon, squirt."

"Sooo…" Ruby began, "That's Weiss, my partner in crime!" She pointed towards Weiss, who looked to Qrow and said "Pleasure to meet you. For the record, i'm not a criminal." Yang snorted.

"That's Blake," she explained with another point, "and she's Yang's partner. She doesn't talk all that much, but she's totally cool. Finally, next to Weiss, is Winter! She's Weiss' sister, and she's visiting for the festival." At the mention of her name, Winter curtsied.

"Dad is, uh, probably somewhere. I have no idea to be honest. He just disappears sometimes," Ruby then told Qrow. She still wasn't sure if her father had actually played scythe-hot-potato with Yang, like she said she would.

"Doesn't surprise me. So, where are we going? Anything to do?" Qrow was eyeing the campus up and down - admiring the gardens and watching as the wind played havoc on the leaves of the trees.

"Actually, yeah, can we go to the practice range? I've really been meaning to have that rematch with you for, like, forever now. I reckon I could probably beat you, ya know?" At this, Winter's head snapped up. Ruby wasn't talking about a  _spar_ , was she? If the match was down to the wire with Weiss, the huntress in training Ruby would certainly struggle to beat a man with what was obviously decades of hunting experience. Not to mention that he was much taller than her, and looked rather strong.

"You're on, squirt. Follow me, I know a good range we can go to. It's got a prep station and everything - you'll love it." Qrow motioned for the girls to follow him, Ruby in particular, as they made their way down the winding paths flanked by hedges. Before them was a building, similar in design to most of the structures on the Beacon site, but the sign above the door read 'Firearm Range #3'.

Weiss was the first to speak up when they reached the range. "I'll bite," she said, "Why are we at a firing range? What's happening?"

As soon as they were inside, Ruby and Qrow headed off to one of the available tables, most of which were very long. Yang took up the job, and explained to her "Well, back on Patch, in Signal, Ruby had a marksman competition against our uncle Qrow here. He basically stomped her, and Ruby said that she'd have a rematch with him when she got better with her sniper rifle. And, uh, here we are. They're having this rematch. You might wanna grab some ear mufflers."

On the tables, both Ruby and Qrow's faces were set in concentration. Ruby had her tongue stuck out the side of her mouth, as she meticulously inspected the sniper rifle element of Crescent Rose. Qrow, meanwhile, removed the black box from his back and allowed it to transform part way. What was presented to him, was a weapon that made Weiss consider redefining the definition of 'too large'. She thought Crescent Rose was large, but Qrow's scythe blew it  _out of the water._ It was well over seven and a half feet long, with an incredibly thick and boxy magazine. The receiver of the weapon was sleek in design, and certainly large. It had a large bolt, and Weiss didn't dare to imagine what kind of caliber it was.

And he hadn't even unfolded it fully. Weiss wouldn't be surprised if the blade was made out of chainsaws, or something crazy like that.

As if it were featherweight, he simply lifted it up and unfolded an inconspicuous bipod underneath the long barrel. A huge compensator finished the end of the barrel, all of which was painted black, and looked large enough to club a grimm to death with alone. One thing Weiss did notice, however…

"Excuse me, Mr Qrow," asked Weiss.

"Hm?" He turned and looked at her. "Something up?"

"What calibre is that supposed to be? Just curious." Weiss had a nagging suspicion, and she wanted to confirm it.

"20x102 millimetres, only the best for my baby. Did Ruby infect you into a weapons nerd or something too?" As if. Calibres were fairly basic weapon specifications.

"Ruby said hers also runs on the same kind… but yet yours look bigger? How is that possible?"

Qrow raised an eyebrow, then furrowed it in confusion, and then began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Weiss inquired.

"That Crescent Rose of hers? No way does that fire twenties. Pretty sure it's 12.7 millimetres in calibre, can't quite remember the length though. She knows that weapon better than anyone."

Weiss did a double take as she made the connection; saying, "You don't think she said it was bigger to show off, do you?"

Qrow shrugged his shoulders with a smirk, and continued to fuss over his own rifle.

A few minutes and a lot of tinkering later, Ruby too brought her rifle forth to face Qrow. It took a similar form, being fully extended but the blade retracted, and the two bowed to each other. "First to 250?" asked Qrow, to which Ruby replied "You're on. Winner gets… uh… bragging rights. Crazy bragging rights."

Weiss had to back away as Qrow rested his weapon on the lane he sat at, with a very long range ahead of him. It was standard; targets would pop up, the shooter would shoot them and knock them back down. 250 targets, however, seemed a bit extreme to Weiss. Ruby kneeled down and braced her weapon on her lane as well, the two a fair distance apart. This way, they wouldn't shoot one-another's targets.

"You two ready?" Yang asked, hand hovering over the button to begin the competition. Both Ruby and Qrow nodded in affirmation, and Yang counted down.

"Three! Two! One! Go!" and immediately, Yang clasped her hands over her ears.

Weiss quickly understood why, barely milliseconds later as the first shot rang out. Ruby's rifle was very loud, and whenever she shot the weapon, it left a bit of a ring in everyone's ears. Qrow's rifle, on the other hand, was a different story altogether. Each shot struck like thunder as it cracked with the sheer speed of the bullet, and it'd make short work of each target he shot at. Even despite the much heavier looking bolt, he was matching Ruby shot-for-shot, if not shooting  _faster,_ which was certainly a feat in itself.

After having thrown on the closest ear mufflers she could find, Weiss then turned her attention to the scores, noticing that both parties needed to reload already, and there were at least a dozen targets eliminated in the first 15 or so seconds. She had seen Ruby reload before, and was sometimes quite leisurely about it, not particularly rushed in her movements - now though, she was performing magic, as the spent magazines were replaced in the blink of an eye.

Blake, meanwhile, wasn't enjoying the little show quite so much. Her sensitive ears did not agree with the insane sound levels at all, and so she quickly excused herself outside. No doubt Ruby would talk about her victory, or defeat, to no ends once she finished. Yang could probably handle herself. Weiss didn't seem to care past the initial shock. Winter, however, was to be found outside as well.  _When did she sneak off?_

"Winter?"

The white-haired girl jumped in surprise, clearly not expecting Blake. "Blake! Don't sneak upon me like that!"

The faunus mused. "I apologize. When did you come here?"

"As soon as they started shooting. That was way too loud for my ears. I don't know how the rest of you coped with it."

"As you can see, I didn't."

"I guess that's understandable."

"Hm? Why?"

"Err…" Winter was trapped. "You know…" She decided to lay down the cards. "Because you're a faunus."

"Oh, so you've learned my little secret. I trust you know to not tell anyone unless I allow you to." She sent her a look that would be a warning enough to anyone with half a brain.

Winter just nodded. "You know, since you're here," Blake started, "I could use a favour or even a helping hand, so to speak. Care to come with me?"

"Where?"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. Not all faunus want to kill every single Schnee. Plus, I wouldn't want your girlfriend to kill me. Trust me on this one."

Winter reluctantly nodded and gingerly followed the catgirl off the campus.

Before long, they were at the door of the largest bookstore in Vale.  _Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun._

"What are we doing here?"

"You remember  _Ninjas of Love_?", Blake asked. Winter blushed and looked at the floor. "I see you do. Well, yesterday a sequel was released. It's called  _Ninjas of Passion_."

"W-Why are you telling me this?"

"You know, I was under the impression Schnees would understand subtlety. You know exactly why I'm telling you this, don't you?"

Winter blushed a bit more, staring through the window of the store, noticing someone who looked like the owner of the place. "W-Well," she stammered out, "I… Think I know."

"And mind telling me what you think is why I'm telling you this?"

"B-Because you noticed I…  _Like_  the first book and want to tell me a new one that I'll probably like just the same is out?"

Blake mused. "That's only partially true."

Winter looked at her in fear. "Wh-What else?"

"I want you to buy one for me, one for yourself, then both books for Ruby, Weiss, Yang  _and_ , and that's the kicker, your mother."

Winter looked at the faunus in disbelief. "You can't be serious. I  _can't_  buy a book so crass to my mother. Why would I buy that for my mother?"

"Winter, be glad I didn't order you to buy another set for Ruby's father."

"But… But… I can't do that! What will mother think of me?"

Blake smiled and said nothing, she just pushed Winter closer to the entrance and then started absentmindedly looking through the store window.

"W-Wait," Winter stammered again, "aren't you going in with me if I have to do this?"

"Hm? Why?"

"Well, you know… So that it doesn't look too weird?"

"Eh? I'm not sure I'm getting your point."

"I can't go in there by myself! He'll look at me weird and think weird things about me!"

"So? Are you denying you're a smutmonkey?"

"I just… I'm a Schnee, I can't be seen buying that."

"Well, you can either buy that and have only Tukson know you're a smutmonkey, or I can let everyone know you're that."

"You're evil!"

"Nothing like this would happen if you didn't steal my book instead of asking me to borrow it."

Winter bowed her head in defeat and started going towards the door.

"Remember, four sets and two extra new books!"

Winter sent her a glare and disappeared in the store. Inside, there was nobody but the man she saw through the window before. She walked up to the counter and waited for him to come to her.

"Good afternoon and welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, the home to every book under the sun. How may I help you, Miss?"

"Hi," Winter gingerly said. "I was wondering if you have…" The rest of the sentence was lost in incoherent mumbling.

"I'm sorry, Miss, I didn't quite catch that. What is it you're looking for?"

"The  _Ninjas of Love_  series," she repeated louder.

"Oh. I see," Tukson gave her a knowing smile, which only made Winter blush more. "So, do you want just the new book or both of them?"

"I uh… Need a bit more than that."

"And what do you mean by that? That and  _Booty of Vacuo_ series? Some other series?"

"I… W-What did you say about Vacuo?"

" _Booty of Vacuo._  It's a series that's very similar to  _Ninjas of Love_."

Winter blushed a bit more before asking the next question. "How… Long is it?"

"It's seven books currently, but the eighth one is in production."

"I… Might want to buy that one too then."

"Sure thing, Miss. So, one  _Ninjas of Love_ and one  _Booty of Vacuo_  series?"

"Actually, I need four sets of  _Ninjas_. And two extra  _Ninjas of Passion_. And one Booty of Vacuo."

"Oh. I see. I guess the tournament can get pretty boring once you're eliminated."

"What tournament are you talking about?"

"The Vytal Tournament, of course."

"That's not… Can you just give me the books, please?"

"Of course. At once."

Tukson disappeared in the back of the store and returned two or three minutes later with a stack of books. Gift-wrapped.

"There you go, Miss, I have taken the liberty of gift-wrapping each set of books. And it's completely free of charge since you will buy this many books."

_Well, at least he's thinking clearly. I really wouldn't want to walk all the way to Beacon with these lewd books on display. It's better if they're wrapped._

"How much do I owe you, then?" She wanted out of the bookstore as soon as possible, so she quickly pulled out a few large notes and offered them to Tukson, who gladly took the money and then attempted to give back the change, but Winter stopped him. "Keep the change."

"Miss, you've given me enough money to buy five more books."

"Just keep the change."

"Thank you," he replied, quickly putting the excess cash back into the register. "Thank you for your purchase and I wish you lots of fun reading those books!"

Winter clumsily waved with a bag full of books in her hand before almost running out of the store, where Blake was eagerly waiting.

"There, I bought them. Happy?"

"For now."

"What do you mean, for now?"

"Every criminal must accept their penance. You stole my book."

"I was gonna return it!"

"You  _stole_ my book. Bear the consequences. Also, what's this larger collection?"

Winter blushed. "I'm not telling you. And you've probably read it already."

Blake snorted. "Fair enough."

On the way back to Beacon, the duo talked about  _Ninjas of Love_  and the plot and everything they liked and disliked about it. Knowing that Blake was not judging her based on the book, Winter realized that books like that are much more enjoyable when you share your views on them with someone else. She wasn't ready to call Blake her friend, but she enjoyed the conversation and figured that they came back to the Academy quicker than they took to get to town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're officially caught up with the story as it is on fanfiction.net. Which means, next week you'll get an update on Saturday every time a new chapter is done!
> 
> Comments are appreciated. Until next time!


	18. Chapter 18

"250 to 247. I win, squirt." Qrow's smug expression gazed over Ruby's look of absolute defeat.

"No way I missed that last shot."

"Tough luck darling, maybe next time."

* * *

After he declined the offer of victory cookies, which made Ruby whine even more, Qrow found Taiyang and the two quickly made off for the closest bar. That meant taking a Bullhead and heading off to the glittering skyline of Vale. Despite Ruby's insistence that he should not be drinking in the early afternoon, he and Taiyang soon found themselves well outside the grounds of Beacon, just as Blake and Winter had returned - this left the team to their own devices for the rest of the day.

"Soo…" Yang said, lying on her back with her feet propped up against a tree, "Anyone got any ideas?"

Ruby gasped and quickly said "We could-" before Yang cut her off saying "That  _doesn't_ involve sparring?" Ruby flopped back down to the ground again.

"We could catch up on some of our projects?" Weiss suggested, getting a few raised eyebrows from the team.

"Uh, Weiss, excuse me, have you seen the lovely weather today? We can't just go off and waste a day like this  _studying,_ " Winter interjected, "And besides; what would I do? I'd be bored out of my mind."

With a huff, Weiss returned to playing with locks of Ruby's hair. "It was only a suggestion," she mumbled to herself.

Blake put down her book - she seemed to get a new one every week, if not every day, it was very odd - and asked, "What about spin the bottle? We could play that."

Weiss rolled her eyes, and said "Are you serious? We aren't children. Except Ruby, maybe. What are you going to suggest next? Hide and seek?" She then quickly covered her mouth as she realised the terrible mistake she made.

A childish suggestion.

With a childish leader.

Ruby's eyes lit up in an instant, and she shouted "YES! Good idea Weiss! We could play hide and seek across the whole grounds of Beacon!"

Yang cheered, Weiss groaned, Winter agreed and Blake was already up and off to find a spot to hide in. "You're it, Ice Queen!" Yang bellowed as she leapt into action and began to run across the gardens. She turned to Ruby, only to find a wake of rose petals where she once stood. Finally, Weiss looked at Winter for support.

"Don't tell me you don't want to play," said the girl, one hand on her hips.

"Well… Yes… I guess so… But…" Weiss trailed off in her sentence, her icy façade faltering under (or, technically over,) her little sister's puppy eyed gaze. It didn't quite match up to Ruby's heart melting stare, but it was definitely competitive.

"Oh, whatever. Just go and hide! You have two minutes!"

* * *

Weiss was seriously regretting agreeing to this stupid game. At least five minutes had passed, and she hadn't even a glimpse of one of the hiders. She made her way over to the gleaming towers of the main courtyard of Beacon. The white and grey material shone under the summer's sun, and the great glass windows reflected the blue skies.

The cobble underfoot clacked with each step Weiss made in her heels, and it had become a droning noise to her at this point. She originally thought that she held a great deal of patience, but this game was certainly wearing it thin, even though she had only been 'searching' for five minutes.

And by searching, she meant an activity that more resembled a gentle stroll around the site whilst the wind played with the hem of her pure white combat skirt. It was therapeutic, in a really odd and slightly aggravating way, because she couldn't find any signs of her teammates whatsoever. Weiss honestly wouldn't be surprised if they had all hidden in their dorm room and were just running her ragged for their own entertainment.

She swore she'd flay them with Myrtenaster when she was finished. That would certainly put an interesting twist on the game.

It was upwards of fifteen minutes later when she found Yang, who sat amongst the few teams and families who were enjoying a snack in the cafeteria. She was indulging herself in a salad of some sort, with chicken in it, and seemed to be waiting for Weiss to come find her.

Weiss only had to raise an eyebrow in question when she tapped on Yang's shoulder to get a response - an overly dramatic, sarcastic, "Oh, Weiss! You found me! Good job. Looks like I can hit the gym now. See you later!"

"Wait!" Weiss shouted, "Are you not even going to help me find the rest of them, you big blonde oaf?"

Yang seemed to weigh up her options, before responding "Mmm… Nope! Seeya."

Weiss was forced to suppress the urge to growl as Yang bounded out of the dining hall, and Weiss bought herself a smoothie to further repress her genocidal urges.

Her next destination was the Library, possibly one of the largest buildings on the site. Inside the huge arching structure there were rows upon rows of books, on every different topic one could have possibly thought of, with computers and tables interspersed throughout the wood and paper jungle. If Blake was to be found anywhere, Weiss thought to herself, it would certainly be somewhere where she could read and act aloof upon being caught.

Following through on her logic, she checked every single nook and cranny of the grand library to find little more than piles of books and a beanbag that somehow found it's way on top of a bookcase. Nothing else caught her eye and there wasn't a single shred of evidence to suggest Blake had been in there.

She groaned and made her way out of the building once again, coming ever so close to leaving through the second story window. Weiss grew more frustrated by the minute, and angrily slurped down what remained of her fruit smoothie.  _Focus,_ Weiss thought,  _I'm not going to find them if I'm all stressed out. I need to be calm, and take it one step at a time. If I were a hyperactive, childish gun fanatic, where would I hide…?_

And that's when the answer snapped to her head -  _The weapon workshop! Of course! It's cliché as anything, but it's the best lead I've got._

The sounds of clanging and power tools grew louder as she neared the weapons workshop, the familiar little box building coming into view.

Stepping inside the building, she followed the noise to the room with the larger workbench. Where she caught Winter kissing Ruby. Her lips tensed for a moment, forming a thin line, but then she remembered they weren't competing for Ruby anymore.

She silently opened the door and saw Ruby bent over something on the bench, hard at work, not even hearing, let alone noticing that someone else was in the room with her.

Weiss's smile grew into a devilish grin as she crept up on her girlfriend, waited until she wasn't hammering or screwing or anything that might be dangerous and then hastily hugging her from behind.

Ruby, of course, not expecting that, let out the cutest yelp of surprise Weiss had ever heard.

"Kya! Wh-Who is it?"

"Dolt," was the only answer Ruby got. It was said so gently that Ruby almost melted from the feeling it left in her ear.

"Hmmmm, Weiss…", she purred and gently eased into the hug. She then felt warm lips kissing her neck, which made her shake a bit as if she was cold.

"Something wrong, Ruby?"

All Ruby could do was try not to moan at the silky voice echoing in her ears. "N-Not at all, I love it, mmmm…"

Then she realized something. "W-Weiss, aren't you supposed to be searching for us?"

"Well, I found you, didn't I?"

Ruby found it hard to argue the heiress' logic. And it wasn't as if she  _minded_  being found if it meant being doted upon like she was at that moment.

"Ruby, I love you," Weiss breathed out and the girl the phrase was addressed to gasped and blushed furiously. She automatically pushed backwards a bit more, to mould into Weiss just a tiny bit more.

"I love you too, Weiss." She closed her eyes and let her mind roam into forbidden territory.

"You know, if it wasn't for all this clutter on the desk and the fact we're in a school workshop, I'd throw you on the desk," Weiss whispered in Ruby's ear, making her shiver with almost every word. "Then I'd kiss your whole body," Weiss continued, every word oozing lust that was completely unlike the proper upbringing Weiss had, but she didn't care. Not then. "And then I'd take you," she finished her lustful confession.

Ruby couldn't hold back and let out a moan at the last three words, unable to deny herself that it was what she secretly wanted too. And for a moment, she thought of doing that exact same thing Weiss just described, just in reverse. The heiress was right, though: the workbench was cluttered with stuff and it was a public place. Kinda hidden, yes, but still public. Should someone enter the room at that moment (say, an explosive redhead with nearly inexhaustible reserves of energy and about the same gun-enthusiasm as Ruby, complete with an oversized weapon) and catch them, there would be no end to bad publicity, not only for the Schnee family, but for Ruby too.

Ruby then squirmed in Weiss' grasp, achieving the loosening of the iron grip she was held in for long enough to turn around and softly kiss Weiss on the lips while cupping her face. The heiress happily returned the kiss, even deepening it.

Both of them being moulded into one with the deep kiss wasn't enough as they heard a faint cough in their vicinity. Ruby jumped a bit more than Weiss, though.

"Ah! W-Winter! Y-you see, this… Um…"

"Mind explaining to me why you're cheating on me with my sister of all people?" There was a certain degree of anger in Winter's voice, and her eyes and posture betrayed that fact as well. The left arm, bent to a degree that her hand rested on her hip made her look cute even with the angry stare, though.

Ruby wanted to stammer out an answer, but Weiss was faster than that. "What does she mean, cheating on her with me? Ruby, how could you?"

Ruby was looking at both girls, panicking so hard she thought she was going to die in that instant. She would rather take on a horde of Deathstalkers than what was unveiling before her eyes.

The angry words were coming from both directions at once, some directed at Ruby, some at either Winter or Weiss. After a while, Ruby couldn't understand another word of what was said. It was all she could do to not run away, as far and as quickly as she could.

"Ruby, what do you have to say for yourself?"

She had to return to reality quickly or something bad was going to happen.

"What  _do_  you have to say for yourself, trying to out-sneak the Schnee family?"

 _Wait, what? Did I hear that right?_  "W-What do you…"

Before she could finish stammering out the question, one of the Schnees interjected.

"Did you really think you could keep a secret from possibly the sneakiest family in Remnant?"

"Y-You two…  _Know?_ "

"We know. Did so for quite a while, to be honest."

"S-So that perfume was…"

"A setup, yeah."

"But…  _Why_?" Ruby whined out.

Weiss smiled at her. "We… Wanted to see how far we can bring this before you find out we know. Turns out you can be rather slow in these kind of things, similar to Jaune."

"Yep," Winter quickly added, "you were totally pulling a Jaune for all this time."

"So… You  _tortured_ me? For your own pleasure?"

* * *

"You reckon they're having fun, Blake? Maybe killed each other yet?"

"I'm sure they're fine, Yang."

* * *

The sisters looked at each other worryingly as Ruby's voice was far from pleasant. Something neither of them experienced before. If they were perfectly honest, driving her almost to the point of breaking as they did at that moment was taking it a bit too far. They nodded at each other and quickly turned to Ruby, heads hanging. "We're sorry."

Ruby's visage was growing angrier by the second. "And you think this will magically make it better? You saying sorry to erase all the worry I had whether you two'd kill me or just torture me in your dungeons if you found out I'm dating both of you?"

Weiss spoke up lightly. "Well, to be perfectly honest, you were playing us both. Why would you even agree to dating both of us?"

Ruby's expression fell. "I… Wasn't sure, okay?"

"Wasn't sure of what?"

"Which one…" The rest of the sentence was lost somewhere halfway between Ruby's vocal chords and her mouth.

Winter tried hard to make out what the girl was saying, but couldn't decipher the combination of low whispers. "I didn't hear that."

"I couldn't decide which one of you I like better!" Ruby almost shouted before slumping on the floor, burying her face in her knees, silently whining.

The sisters looked at each other again, this time with concern for their girlfriend. Without a word, they each took a place on each side of the crying girl and smothered her in a double hug, surprising her.

"We're so sorry, Ruby. We really are. We should under no circumstance play you like that. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us."

"What are you talking about? Do you think I am angry with you? I am more angry with myself because I couldn't decide on just one of you, thinking that dating you both would show me who I prefer. But now… It's just gotten harder because you're both so cool. And I don't want to break your heart, either of you."

"Is that so?", Winter inquired. After Ruby nodded, she continued. "Well then I have an idea!"

Weiss looked at her, not knowing what she was planning.

"You should come to Atlas and visit our family, see us in our natural environment!"

Weiss was confused.  _We didn't talk about this_. She gave Winter a puzzled expression and only got a shrug in response.  _Great. She won't accept, right?_

That hope was destroyed quickly as the ever-hyperactive Ruby returned to the world of living, jumping up, pumping a fist in the air and screaming "Yes! Yes! Yes!" over and over again. Weiss shook her head.  _This can only end badly._

* * *

"Ninety nine… aaand one hundred! Nice job Blake. Never took you for the type to exercise."

A heavily panting Blake tried lifting herself up and off of the ground, to little result. "Doesn't mean it was  _easy_ , you big brute. Not all of us work out day and night."

Yang hummed in agreement. "Yeah. It's not easy to get killer abs like mine, but keep it up and maybe you'd stand a chance! And it's not like I weigh that much anyway." She then rolled halfway off of Blake's back, resulting in another panting fit from the faunus before Blake once again tried to lift herself off the ground. She had to settle on lying down on her torso though, as she was just too exhausted to push the brawler off of her.

Blake rolled her eyes. "Right. Yeah. Because you have  _never_ snuck glances at my abs when I've been changing before, hm?"

"Pfft, no? I've got my own to look at, and they're  _waaay_ better."

"Seriously though, Yang, do you mind getting off now? My everything is killing me. You weigh like, ten stone, not even joking."

"And all of it, pure muscle!" she spoke in a sing song tone as she finally got off of the poor faunus' back and sat on a bench close by. "You want a drink?"

"Please."

"Would you look at that, Blake's thirsty. That's not a first."

"Just hand me my damn water, Yang."

"Sheesh, Kitty's got claws." Yang threw Blake the small black bottle of water with a shit-eating grin. She'd be surprised if Blake let her get away with that one.

"Sleep with one eye open tonight. If you find Gambol Shroud sticking out of your neck tomorrow morning, I reserve the right to say it was your fault." Of course she wouldn't. Not that it fazed her in the slightest.

"And if I fight back?"

"They'll never find the body."

Yang opted to ignore her and stripped her shirt off, leaving nothing but a sports bra on her torso, with her spectacular abs below them. She then stretched a few times, before sitting herself down and getting ready to do a few hundred sit-ups.

Blake's jaw, meanwhile, was on the floor.

"What's up Blake? Isn't it rude to stare? See something you like? Cat got your tongue?"

After more than a few embarrassing and confused sounds, Blake finally choked out a sentence, glaring at the blonde and saying "You are impossible. Literally impossible." She had to admit to herself that Yang looked pretty damn fine in just her sports bra and shorts. She had to go to the bathroom to freshen herself up before she did something stupid. But as she turned around to walk away, she couldn't help but look back at Yang.

The same Yang that was obviously staring at her butt. Blake saw that, but Yang didn't seem to notice Blake seeing her.

And then Yang licked her lips, her gaze still glued to Blake's toned butt that was extremely pronounced in the yoga pants she wore that day. She couldn't help but blush slightly before turning away, quickening her pace, unwillingly giving Yang more action. Was it really unwillingly, though? Blake wasn't sure anymore.

As she shut the bathroom door behind her, she glued her face on one of the bathroom mirrors. She saw her face was cherry red, though she figured it was not as much from the strenuous practice Yang inflicted on her.

To Blake, there was no denying it. She was falling - no, actually scratch that - she has fallen for Yang. Head over heels. Judging from the blonde's teasing and looks, the feeling was mutual. She was going to ask her if she'd want to go on a date, but then, as she noticed the blonde staring at her butt, her confidence disappeared.

The ice cold water splashing on her face made her shake and as it was sliding down her face, her confidence started boosting up again. Thinking back, Yang's staring only made her believe that she was a really beautiful woman and not just some buff woman with a masculine look, hell-bent on righting the wrongs in a different way than White Fang. It made her feel alive and it made her forget that she was living in very dark times, if only for a minute.

She was going to go down to Yang and ask her out, this time for sure. She hid her face in the towel to wipe the water off when she heard the doors open and quickly close again.

She turned around and there was Yang, looking as amazing as ever, if a bit sweatier than usually. Her amazing lilac eyes were checking Blake out and made her feel like a small, defenseless girl that could just melt into the blonde. It took her too long to figure out she was staring.

"Sup, kitten? You all right in here?"

Blake nodded. "I just had to freshen up a little. You may not be heavy, but a hundred pushups with you on my back is tougher than it sounds."

"Eh," Yang waved her hand, "I used to do two hundred with Ruby on my back when we were on Patch."

"You used to do that every day. I only did this today for the first time. You can't expect me to be as strong as you immediately."

"That's true, kitten. And I don't hold it against you. I'm actually proud that you managed to do it. I was actually thinking of giving you a reward since you were so good."

Blake's ears twitched under the bow. "Hmm?" She tried her best to sound nonchalant.

Yang's mouth widened into a wide smile, as per tradition. "How about we go out to grab an ice cream or something?"

Blake thought she heard it wrong. But no, Yang actually asked her out. "Sure, let's do that."

"On one condition, though," Yang continued with a mischievous smile.

"What is that?"

"You walk five feet in front of me."

Blake couldn't help but wonder what Yang meant with that. "W-Why is that?"

Yang approached the faunus and whispered in her ear. "Because your ass looks awesome and I want to see it walk before me."

As much as she hated to admit it, Blake loved how Yang always told what she meant. The whisper in her ear made her legs wobble a bit though, and she had to quickly compose herself.

"Deal."

* * *

Weiss, with the help of Ruby and Winter, eventually found the elusive Blake - she was sat under one of the many trees in the gardens, dozing off in the late summer's afternoon. She was curled up next to Yang, who had fallen asleep, and the two of them seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Weiss almost felt bad for disturbing her. A book lay in the grass, pages opened and blowing with the wind, and probably contained some story within. Ruby bet ten lien that they had both fallen asleep reading that book, or something.

"Can we dump a bucket of water or something on them? It would be funny to see their reactions."

"Winter!" Ruby scolded, "That's mean. We couldn't do that. Look how peaceful they look together, snoozing and everything!"

"Would that not make it all the more worth it? We're going to wake them up either way, so we may as well enjoy ourselves whilst doing it."

Weiss rolled her eyes, and said "No means, no, let's just wake them up and head off for dinner. I'm pretty sure they're serving salmon today, and Blake would be damned if she missed fishy Friday."

It was a well known fact that Blake liked fish. Tuna sandwiches and salmon fillets were her favourite meals, and fishy Friday only happened twice per month. One of the larger plates was an entire salmon fish. Yang and Weiss both had seen how quickly Ruby could consume cookies and how Nora could inhale pancakes; but neither held a candle to the speed with which Blake consumed the super salmon special. Blink, and you would miss it.

It was decided; Weiss would have to wake Blake up, and shoulder all the guilt of ruining such a serene moment.

That was, until, Yang jolted awake and accidentally punched Blake's face. The blonde then spent the next ten minutes, if not more, profusely apologising for hitting the girl by accident.

"I'm sorry, but we're going to need to go to dinner, so if you two could just hurry this up, that'd be fine," said Weiss to the pair. Yang was desperately trying to make amends, and Blake was continuously telling her it was fine.

"It's… uh… it's fishy Friday, you know?" Ruby's small voice immediately drew the attention of Blake, who turned to her with a sceptical look. "Please tell me you aren't joking," she asked the redhead.

"Uh. Nope. I figured that you'd-AH!" Ruby exclaimed as the girl shot past her and headed straight for the dining hall. Yang lugged herself up and peered off in the direction Blake ran with one hand protecting her eyes from the sun.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen her run so fast. You don't think she hates me for hitting her, do you?" Yang asked.

Weiss replied saying "I don't think it's a case of Blake hating you so much as Blake loving fishy Friday. We might want to catch up to her before she eats everything being served."

Yang was somewhere else completely, though. "You know, Rubes, your semblance is speed. But I'm sure not even you could catch up to her with how fast she's going."

"You're on," was the only thing Yang got in response before her sister became a blur, running after the faunus. Weiss and Winter tried to stop her, but they were way too late.


	19. Chapter 19

"So, Rubes, who are you facing next? Your match is supposed to be real soon, right?"

Ruby put down her glass of milk and turned to Yang, telling her "Some girl named… Reese? She has a hoodie and cool hair, but I have no idea what her weapon is, so i'm kinda nervous."

Yang stuffed another waffle into her mouth. "I dunno. I mean, I heard rumors of some exchange student with a hoverboard, so you never know."

Blake seated herself next to Yang and put down her tray of tuna sandwiches, which according to her, counted as breakfast. "Yang, Ruby," she asked, "Have either of you seen Weiss or Winter today?"

Ruby swallowed another pancake, before saying "Yeah, Weiss sent me a message this morning, she's going down to Vale to go shopping with Winter and their mother. Or sightseeing. Either way, she said she'd be back to see my semi-final match, and I'm holding her to that!"

* * *

Meanwhile, on the air shuttle to Vale, Weiss sneezed.

"Hey, Weiss," said Winter, "If Yang was here, do you reckon she'd say something like 'Weiss Schneezed?'" putting on a terrible voice resembling Yang's.

Weiss sent Winter the Schnee Glare Of Death, and blew her nose into her handkerchief. "You're just as bad as her…" she moaned.

* * *

"What about Dad and Uncle Qrow? Where are they today?" asked Ruby, lifting herself out of her seat.

"Mmm… They're probably hungover, knowing their drinking habits. They don't drink often, but they drink  _hard._ They're not getting up any time soon."

Ruby ran off to the bins on the other side of the dining hall, masterfully weaving through the masses whilst balancing three plates and two glasses. She dumped the remaining food into it and then sped off back to her table, where she found Blake and Yang preparing to leave the hall. She looked between the two with uncertainty.

"Hey, uh, Blake…" Ruby spoke with a small voice.

"Mhm? What is it?"

"Would you… Uh… Help me with Crescent Rose? I need to make sure she's in top-notch shape for my match today."

Blake raised an eyebrow, before snapping her book closed. "I can help you if you like. I'm sure Yang will be fine on her own."

"Oh! I see how it is. Ditching me for my sister. It's fine, I only planned on spending the day with you two anyway. I'm hurt! Offended! Saddened!" spoke Yang, with practiced drama, before 'fainting' into her chair, one hand over her forehead and all. When Ruby got closer and prepared to stammer out an apology, Yang opened one eye and looked at her.

"It's fine, Rubes. I already made arrangements to practice with Pyrrha today anyway, to make sure I don't lose anymore matches! Go have fun with Blake. She's a barrel of laughs, trust me."

"Ah, uh, okay! Seeya later Yang! Come on Blake, we're going to the workshop!"

Blake nodded, and walked beside the younger girl as they left the dining hall.

_Look at her bounding down the pathway. She's like a puppy. No wonder Weiss fell for her._

* * *

"Spatial awareness and footwork."

"Huh?" Yang asked Pyrrha with a sceptical look. "I got plenty of both of those."

The two stood in one of the open fields dotted around Beacon - the one with charred trees slowly regrowing their leaves, remnants of a battle long forgotten. Or, as Yang would put it, the place where Ruby and Weiss fought to impress the Schnees.

"That's certainly true, but you need to always be aware of exactly what your opponent is doing too. If you can keep up with their movements, and guess what their next will be, you will stand a far better chance of avoiding it. As for your footwork, you need to constantly keep the opponent on their toes. If they can't focus as well as you can, then the match is tipped in your favour," Pyrrha told Yang with wisened words.

"Uhuh. So, basically, I need to be two steps ahead of them?"

"In a nutshell."

Pyrrha took her spear and shield combination, Milo and Akouo, from her back. "Would you like to practice it a bit?"

Yang extended her arms and watched as her gauntlets formed around her wrists, and then cocked them with a punch. "Yeah. You're on, Pyrrha. Come at me, bro!"

Pyrrha complied and charged at Yang in much the same way she did in the tournament match. Yang examined her movements closely, and ducked down the the left, avoiding the spear which had been meant for her head. She then hooked her left fist around and straight into Pyrrha's unprotected side, and watched as she stumbled.

Once she got back up, Pyrrha approached Yang again, this time aiming for her right leg. Not only did Yang turn out of the way and cause Pyrrha to completely miss, but she then brought her right foot up and snapped it straight around into Pyrrha's head, knocking the girl flat on her back.

"Oh, shit! Pyrrha, sorry! I didn't hurt you or anything, right?" Yang asked with concern.

Pyrrha chuckled as she got to her feet, rubbing the back of her head. "No, no, I'm perfectly fine. I wouldn't last long in tournaments if I couldn't take hits like that, right?" she said, smiling all the while. "You certainly predicted my moves, so that's good. You just need to find the sweet spot, between focusing on yourself and your opponent."

* * *

"But why though?"

"I reckon it would look nice on you. Come on, try it on!" Winter pleaded with Weiss.

The Schnees stood in one of the higher end stores in Vale, a clothes shop renowned for its high quality clothes and heavy price tags. Bianca sat on one of the chairs available, talking on her scroll and watching as the pair urged each other to try on different clothes.

Weiss looked at the light blue dress which Winter held up before her.

"Come on Weiss. I know you like it. Try it on!"

Weiss grumbled and took the dress from Winter, heading into one of the many dressing rooms available. It wasn't too long before Weiss returned, wearing the dress and performing a little twirl. "Well?" she asked, "How does it look?"

The pale blue dress definitely suited the girl. The skirt reached below her knees, and flowed with a certain elegance that matched her combat style. The blue slowly faded to white as it reached the hem of the dress and gave it a wonderful tone. It even matched her figure.

Laughing, Winter said "See for yourself," taking Weiss to one of the large mirrors. Weiss gasped as she saw herself in the mirror. "It looks beautiful!"

"Yeah, after all, nobody knows you better than I do. Come on, take a picture for Ruby, I bet she'll love it!"

* * *

Ruby's scroll buzzed in her pocket as she put down Crescent Rose, getting ready to work on it. Her hand dived in and picked the scroll out, before unfolding it and opening the message from Weiss. Blake watched as her eyes widened and a huge smile grew on her face.

"Hm? What's up, Ruby?"

"Blake!" she responded, "Look at this, look how pretty she is!"

Blake took the scroll from Ruby's offering hand and looked at the image. It was Weiss, facing a mirror whilst wearing an astonishing dress, with Winter grinning like an idiot just behind her. The message below read 'Look what we found!'

"It certainly matches her."

* * *

"Reese."

No answer.  _Typical_.

"Reese."

This time, Nadir was louder. Yet the girl in question didn't even lift her head up and kept listening to whatever music there was playing through her headphones. Nadir reckoned it was some sort of anti-establishment music, which, while he didn't really enjoy, he could at least understand the appeal of it. Now, mind you, this usually wouldn't be a problem, but it was occurring on the day Reese was supposed to fight the prodigy of Beacon Academy in Vytal Festival semifinals.

That in itself was weird to Nadir. They called it semifinals, but there were 4 fights in the round. He reckoned they just made a mistake or something, but it still bugged him. He was proud his partner was the only person that wasn't from Beacon that made it that far.  _Looks like a hoverboard is an unexpected weapon for a Hunter._

SIghing loudly, he walked towards her and yanked the earphones from her head.

"Hey, give those back!"

"Oh, so  _now_ I get a reaction?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact I was trying to get your attention for like half an hour already." Nadir sounded visibly irritated by her behaviour. Reese's reaction was expected, though. She looked at Nadir for a moment, twirling the toothpick she always carried in her mouth in that, Nadir would say, super cute way. Then she exploded into her trademark laughter, brushing her spiky turquoise hair behind her head. As mocking as it was, Nadir found it oddly endearing.

His infatuation with her was not a secret. Alas, she didn't see him as anything but a good friend, which hurt him. Especially since she would always flirt with other boys openly. There were rumours running around about her, but he refused to believe them and took them for nothing more than rumours, probably from people that were denied by her, much like him.

"Oh, Nadir! You're so cute when I don't pay attention to you! Come here," she urged him to sit next to her on the bed. After he did so, she threw one arm around his neck and pulled him towards her, crashing his face in her chest, pulled his bandana off and started running his knuckles over his almost completely bald head, much like older siblings did to their younger ones.

"Hmmph-!" Nadir wanted to say something, but his voice was muffled by her not-too-sizeable-but-still-quite-a-handful breasts.

"What's that, dear partner?"

Nadir, much as he enjoyed his current position (and knowing fully well it was the closest he'd ever get), pushed himself off, proclaiming "Why must you always take my bandana off?"

"Eh," Reese replied, throwing her arms playfully in the air, "I always forget you're so self-conscious about your lack of hair. Here," she bent over herself to pick up the discarded bandana and put it back on Nadir's head, "I'm sorry." Not only was the apology not sincere, but it was followed by a small wink and the tip of the tongue showing from her lips.

"I don't even know why I bother trying to make you a decent person," he huffed. "You're so immature. It's not even two hours until your semifinal match, with a girl wonder no less, and you're more concentrated on making me feel uncomfortable than on the technique you're gonna use."

"Eh, why would I need a technique? I'll just do what I always do, guns blazing and running wild," she replied with another playful wink.

"It's like you don't even care," Nadir said angrily and left the room without saying another word, leaving Reese alone in their room.

When she saw him leaving, she laughed heartily at his anger, but as soon as she was sure he can't hear her anymore, her face stiffened.

While on the surface, Reese was always calm and ready to be cheeky and playful, the gravity of the situation was very clear to her.  _He is right._ _I am fighting in a semifinal of the festival. With a girl that's not only a prodigy of the best academy in Remnant, but also happens to carry a weapon that's so comically oversized that it should be impossible to control. Yet she moves with the grace of a princess and is also as dangerous as the Reaper himself._

Reese looked at the door of the dorm, where Nadir was a minute ago.  _I'm sorry, Nadir. I really am. I know how much you care for me. I know you want to protect your teammates. And I thank you for it. Maybe I'm not showing it, but I really do thank you._

She would never show this face to any member of her team, no matter what, but deep inside, Reese was scared.  _I'm the last of the non-Beacon folks. The pride of all academies rests on me._

That conclusion lit a small fire in her eyes, a fire that made her realize what she would be doing in the battlefield when the time comes. And then her laugh returned, right after widening her mouth in a devilish grin. Soon it became a full-on laughter as the complete realization kicked in.

_Ruby Rose, you better watch out. Reese Chloris is coming to getcha!_

* * *

The arena which they stood in was a far cry from the open expanses of fields and combat classrooms used in the earlier stages of the tournament. It seated thousands, thousands who had already seen Yang defeated at the hand of the invincible girl, and the same thousands who now packed themselves into the many rows of seats to see Ruby duke it out with Reese.

The fighting floor was rather bland for Ruby's taste - it was a smooth grey surface, in a large hexagonal shape, with nothing interesting decorating the landscape upon which they would fight. It wouldn't really matter though, Ruby thought, as she'd probably be spending most of her time focusing on her opponent.

Taking the final well-wishes from her teammates and family to heart, she stepped out to a huge uproar of cheers and clapping. It made her feel smaller than she already was, what with all the people staring down upon her. Ruby walked, rather nervously, over to the position where she would be starting from, and peered across the stage to get her first good look at her opponent.

The girl, Reese, had turquoise hair and a purple hoodie, with what looked like war-paint under each eye. Short black shorts, kneepads and boots covered her legs. It was definitely a unique look, Ruby thought, but then again, she couldn't say much for herself. Black corset and red cloak wasn't a look everybody adopted. The huge grin she sported looked fairly similar to Yang's. Carefree and wild.

"So, you're Ruby Rose, kid prodigy? Nice to meet ya," said Reese, sticking her hand out. Ruby snapped out of her stupor and quickly accepted it. "Hey, see, name's Reese. Chloris. I'm looking forward to a good fight from you!"

Ruby nodded and responded "Uh, yeah! Me too! Good luck!"

Eventually, the racket from the audience died down enough for the two to take up their positions and await the countdown. Ruby knew that Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck were commentating on these matches, and way more people still were watching at home, so she vowed to make it a good match. Reese, on the other hand, vowed to try her damned well hardest to win.

The audience fell to a shush as the lights dimmed and the countdown began.

"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five…"

_Uh, actually, that reminds me. Weiss is watching, right? Mrs Schnee and Winter too? I'll need to make it a good match for them too._

"Three. Two. One. Begin."

Immediately, Crescent Rose was in Ruby's hand, and she began firing potshots down range at Reese. She, on the other hand, had taken her hoverboard from her back and was now riding it with amazing balance, clearly in full control. Reese leaned heavily forward and the board responded in chime, darting straight towards Ruby.

Ruby opted for a more straight forward approach, and unfolded Crescent Rose to its full glory. With a hop, skip, jump and fifty cal gunshot Ruby too rocketed towards her opponent. Her initial attack came from above as she swiped downwards with the scythe, for Reese to avoid it entirely and lunge for Ruby.

_That weapon is unwieldy in close quarters. The closer I can force her, the better._

Ruby took the the sky, in her classic bail strategy, working the bolt of her sniper rifle as the kick sent her straight up. Reese pushed her hoverboard downwards and watched in awe as she came to meet Ruby in the air. Ruby hooked her leg around the approaching girl, and kicked her away, before bringing her scythe down blunt-end first and sending Reese straight back down to where she came from.

As she fell, Ruby tucked herself into a roll and straight away opened with a huge arc of her scythe sideways, forcing Reese backwards. Pulling the trigger and dashing over to the stumbling fighter, Reese had nary a second to react before the scythe cleaved a dead-zone between Ruby and herself. She kicked up her hoverboard and pushed straight off of Ruby, blasting a large amount of energy and distancing herself from the reaper.

_Actually, nevermind. She's good with that thing._

Recuperating and re-strategizing, Reese thought out her next move carefully. While Ruby was fast, she wouldn't be fast forever, so a drawn out fight would work to her favour. The girl in red herself had taken the opportunity to reload Crescent Rose with another huge magazine, and quickly hammered down the field on the offensive once again.

What seemed to be Reese slipping off of her hoverboard was in fact a deliberate move - the board zipped straight from underneath her feet and sailed directly into Ruby, who was moving too fast to change direction. The board slammed into the girl and disoriented her, giving Reese all the chance she needed. Reese kicked up a sprint and cracked a vicious kick into Ruby's back, retrieving her hoverboard from where it laid upside-down.

Ruby buried the sharp ended shaft into the arena floor below, and observed with a face of concentration.

"Your weapon is… It's unconventional, but it works so well somehow," she spoke, mostly to herself.

Reese snorted as she snapped her knee into her precious hoverboard and it seemingly broke in two. "Uh, excuse me?" she began, "Giant sniper rifle scythe. That's as unconventional as it gets!" Reese snatched the two falling pieces from mid air, and with practiced ease, flipped them around and transformed them into its dual gun mode.

Ruby swung her huge weapon around, hooking it behind her back and worked the bolt. A huge .50 calibre casing ejected itself and clattered to the now quiet floor. She offered little more than a smirk, before yanking down on the trigger and reaching Reese's position instantaneously.

Said girl had ducked to the side and shot a quick burst of rounds, causing Ruby to miss her swing by a hair's breadth. Reese's foot found its way to where Ruby's head was moments ago, had the girl not pulled herself back. Underneath her outstretched leg, Reese fired her offhand pistol and planted several shots into the distracted Ruby.

Ruby swung Crescent Rose around in another great arc, frowning as Reese fell under the blade, shooting and hitting Ruby even more.

The comparable peashooters posed nowhere near as much danger as Ruby's huge rifle, but fired far faster and landed many more shots. She only had to hit one shot with Crescent Rose, and Reese would take a serious blow to her aura - one that Ruby desperately needed, her own slowly trickling into the light orange.

The fight waged on as Ruby struck at Reese, Reese manoeuvred easily around the attacks and got directly into Ruby's personal space with a combined firearm and bare hand offensive. The girl proved to be incredibly agile, bending and twisting and turning around Ruby, turning the fight into something closer resembling a dance.

_Then… why not just keep my distance?_

Ruby's spirit re-ignited with renewed determination to win the fight, and she quickly put it to good use on the battlefield. Reese was fast, but Ruby could be faster. As another swinging leg came down for an attempt at Ruby's collarbone, Ruby quickly focused her semblance and caught it.

And the two stood there, in utter silence, for just a few seconds. Seconds which seemed like an eternity.

The serenity shattered as Crescent Rose was plunged, rifle first, straight into Reese's immobilized chest in the blink of an eye and delivered magnificently. The point blank range of the shot not only rang in Reese's ears and damn near blinded her from the flash of the muzzle, but the excruciating and sharp pain in her chest was probably the worst she'd ever felt.

She had barely the time to make a small cry of pain before Ruby had slammed Crescent Rose downwards, worked the bolt and launched herself directly into the poor girl, scythe first. Reese flew straight across the stadium, and crashed into the ground with a terrific crash.

Ruby wiped a sweat from her brow and dared to take another look at the aura gages - she was not in good shape overall, the orange meter slowly getting darker, but fared much better than Reese. Reese's meter was teetering on the verge between dark orange and red. One more offensive would do it, Reese was in no position to attack, and Ruby had the clear advantage by far.

_I'm not giving up, not like this._

Steadily and shakily, Reese got back onto her feet, wincing at both the physical pain of the incredible blows Ruby had delivered beforehand, and the hurt of seeing just how low her aura was. Her pistols laid by her side, and she knew she had to act fast.

Reese pulled the two together and watched in satisfaction as the transformation worked flawlessly as per usual, before flipping the board over and slotting in the little gift Nadir had given her: Red dust, beautiful, pure, and destructive.

 _Huh,_ Reese thought, quickly making the connection,  _it's red like roses._

* * *

In the audience, in amongst the cheers and shouts, Weiss sneezed.

"She Schneezed!"

"Yang, I swear, I will skin you alive."

* * *

The two stood at either end of the stage, waiting for the opponent to make the first move. Ruby watched with sharp eyes as Reese hovered perfectly still on her hoverboard, along with it now emitting a subtle red glow.

 _She probably used dust or something._ Ruby could practically hear Weiss scolding her for even considering throwing all caution to the wind and recklessly charging in, and had to exercise all restraint in order not to do so.

Much the the audience, and Ruby's, surprise, Reese leaned straight in towards her opponent and thundered down the void of space between the two, confident and cheeky smirk replaced with a face of pure focus. She was not going to let herself lose.

With a quick spin, the horrifically sharp edge of Crescent Rose quickly found itself buried in the ground before Ruby, and absorbing all the kick and recoil of the multitude of shots with which Ruby was now barraging Reese with.

Reese used minor footwork and small adjustments in order to make herself more difficult to track for the sniper, ducking and weaving around the maelstrom of bullets. Each crack and whizz of the passing bullets reminded Reese that she was not facing some light, easy to manage opponent. She was facing Ruby Rose.

Reese quickly turned on her heel as Ruby dislodged Crescent Rose from the ground, and angled the bottom of her board straight towards Ruby. Reese came in closer, closer, before unleashing all of the pent up energy within the fire dust at once. What could only be described as a storm of fire erupted from her board as all of nature's wrath unleashed itself upon Ruby.

Ruby, who was nowhere to be seen for the briefest second.

Ruby, who sailed into Reese from behind, scorch marks marring much of her appearance.

Ruby, who hooked Crescent Rose's curved scythe blade around Reese's neck, and without even looking at her victim, pulled the trigger.

The pair rocketed directly down into the ground, with Reese almost unconscious as she collided harshly with the floor. Ruby just about nailed a shaky landing not even a few feet away from her, supporting herself upon Crescent Rose.

The match was declared, and Ruby stood victorious, eyes brimming with tears of joy upon seeing the result. Her face was dirtied and slightly blackened in places from the immense power of the fire dust… storm… thing, and she wore the evidence proud and proper. Even the ashes couldn't hide the massive smile which marked her face even more.

Unsurprisingly, the audience quickly exploded into cheers and whistles as the teams of both combatants jumped straight into the battlefield in order to tend to their respective member.

Reese was very quickly fussed over by some medics, who she waved off and told that she was fine enough to stand. Her own features hadn't fared any better than Ruby's, with cuts and scrapes covering much of her skin. It certainly looked painful.

The reaper herself then approached Reese after unlatching herself from a triple-barrel bear hug from Weiss, Winter and Yang. She knelt down, given permission from her teammates, and held Reese's hand. The two locked eyes.

"Man, I totally thought I had that one," Reese's croaky yet ever snappy voice spoke, before giggling.

"I thought you did too!" Ruby said, "I mean, I've never ever fought against someone with a hoverboard before - I mean, I didn't think I'd ever need to, so I was just making stuff up on the fly! You're good, really good, I can see why you got this far in the tournament."

"Hah. Man, even gracious in victory, I like you. You gotta teach me how to be crazy fast like that one day."

"And you totally have to teach me how to ride one of those hoverboards!"

"Deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AWW YEAHHH, one more fight done! First off: follow JackThePegasus on fanfiction.net, he is an amazing writer if fights are your cup of tea.
> 
> Second: there will be no update next week as I won't be present from Friday to Monday.
> 
> Third: Thank you for reading, we appreciate the reviews and the follows, and we will see you next time!


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The jubilee of 20 chapters is on! PARTY! I mean, enjoy.

"No."

"Weiss. Please. I'm begging you. Let me do this."

"I said no. That's final, Ruby."

Ruby slumped down into her chair and sobbed, desk cluttered with various materials and tools. "You're so mean to me! You never let me do anything I want!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, and walked over to the younger girl, draping her arms over Ruby. "Yes I do. I let you go out with Winter whenever you like, I let you and Yang run rampant in the dorm room, I let you get away with not studying on weekdays… but most of all, I let you act like a little kid all of the time."

"Huh?" Ruby's head swung around to face Weiss so quickly, she might have gotten whiplash. "I'm not childish!"

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not!"

"And there we are. That's why you're childish."

"Still," Ruby grumbled, "I don't see what this has to do with the Rosy Blizzard." Ruby made a wide gesture to the table which she was sat behind, and to all of the parts scattered upon it. After her fight with Reese, Ruby immediately decided that she had to get a hoverboard of her own, and so had been working on some prototypes all morning. She'd even come up with a name for it, which she was particularly proud of.

"Because hoverboards are stupidly dangerous," replied Weiss, "and I don't want to see you get hurt," she said in a softer tone. Weiss quickly tightened the hug and then released the younger girl from her grip. "Besides, you aren't spending enough time with your dad and uncle. They've come over here to visit you specifically, yet you're burying your head in practice and engineering. Go out with them some more."

"Ok, yeah, but let me make my super-duper-awesome-cool hoverboard first!" shouted Ruby, who spun around on her chair. "Admit it, you totally want a ride on this baby when she's done."

"I heard babies and being done. Ruby, if you're doing what I think you're doing, then stop that right now," came the new voice from the doorway. Ruby fell off of her chair in surprise, with a quick yelp and then the loud clattering of various parts hitting the floor and making a large mess.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, beet red, "Don't say stuff like that! It's rude!"

Weiss turned on her heel and stared the blonde brawler straight in the eyes. "Not only would I not do such a thing, but I have a question."

"Shoot, she-wolf."

"Don't call me she-wolf. Wouldn't you normally be hanging around with Blake or maybe your father? Why are you pestering us today?"

Yang slid down the door, drawing out her sentence. "Weeelll…" she began, coming to a stop half way down. "I kind of lost her."

"You what?"

"I lost Blake. She disappeared earlier today and I have literally zero idea where she is."

Weiss gathered her thoughts for a second, and then sat down on her bed. "Have you checked the library by any chance? If she's anywhere, it's always the library, and you know that."

Yang waved Weiss off and jumped onto Blake's bed, Ruby's eyes trailing her every move. "Yeah, of course I have. That was the first place I checked. You got any other ideas where she might be? Rubes?"

The trio sat in relative quiet for the next few seconds, before Yang groaned loudly and launched straight from her back onto her feet again. "You guys are so useless, I'm gonna go look for her. Weiss, don't let Ruby do anything stupid. Ruby, don't do anything stupid."

Before Ruby could protest, Yang had already bounded out of the door and down the hallway, embarking on her grand search for the elusive third member of team RWBY.

"I don't do stupid things, do I?"

Weiss turned to her with a completely floored expression. "All the time, Ruby. Literally all the time."

Ruby sobbed once more and fell further into her chair.

* * *

"So then she swung round, and decapitated a good dozen beowolves in a single strike, before checking on what I was doing. Of course, besides trying to raise my jaw from the floor after watching her do that, I had just finished manhandling an Ursa after it beat my warhammer too far for me to reach. She looks at me with this gobsmacked expression like, 'Tai, did you seriously just fistfight an Ursa?' and when I nodded her expression was  _priceless._  Man, Qrow, you shoulda seen it."

Qrow put down his small drink and turned to Taiyang, who was nursing a light beer of his own. "The reason I didn't see it was because me and Raven were to busy clearing up  _your_ mess, you big idiot."

"You got the job done, right?! That's all that counts! Besides, it was totally badass, and you missed out. Just sayin'."

* * *

"Blake!"

No answer.

"Blake, where are you?!"

No answer.

"Dammit Blake, where did you go?!"

No answer.

That was a quick summary of Yang's morning, with a good hour or so of fruitless search. After doing a quick once-over of the library, she checked the combat halls, the cafeteria, the armoury, the workshop, hell, even the firing range. The last one was a stretch considering Blake despised excessively loud noises with a passion.

So she had spent as long as she deemed necessary searching for her partner, shouting and calling her name, looking for the girl who she hoped to spend the rest of the day with. Yang was quickly running out of places to look, even resorting to looking up trees as if she were some stray kitten who had gotten stuck.

_Of course, that's nothing like Blake. She's not a kitten, she's way cuter._

She  _so_  had to use that line at some point.

"Blaaake!"

"Yang, please, what's with all this shouting?"

Yang looked to her right to find none other than Winter herself, dressed in a lovely new blue dress perfect for the warm summer weather. Her head was tilted, and one eyebrow was raised in question. She figured that Winter had probably come to reprimand her for being so loud, or 'acting like an oaf' or something stupid.

"Yo, Winter, do you want to help me find Blake?" The question was genuine and honest, and Yang reckoned she could use just about all the help she could get at the moment. At no point would Yang be surprised if Winter declined her offer and went to go screw with Weiss and Ruby instead. Literally or figuratively.

"You look like you could use the extra help. It'd be rude of me to turn you down."

Yang was mildly taken aback. "Wowee, since when did you turn into goody-goody two-shoes?"

Winter sent her the Schnee Glare. "Excuse you, I wasn't raised in a cave like your manners indicate you were."

"Ouch. That hurt."

"Good."

Quality bonding time.  _Can't be beaten._

"So how in the world did you lose your own teammate? Aren't you by her side almost all of the time? I find it odd that she'd manage to escape you like that."

"Is that an insult or a compliment? I can't tell."

"I'll withhold that answer."

"Anyway, I don't think you've seen how ninja-like Blake is, she can disappear in broad daylight if she feels like it, and you'd never notice; ever! I'm not even exaggerating or anything like that, she's the definition of stealth and sneakiness."

"So you, the big blonde brute, are supposed to find this girl any time in the next few years, assuming that she is as good as you say she is?"

Yang slapped her hand over her heart. "Hey! We share a special connection! I've been trying to talk to her telekinetically for the past week or something."

Winter held her hand up. "The word's telepathic."

"Whatever."

"And considering that your semblance is the whole taking hits deal, I don't think that you're capable of it."

"Never know until you try!" Yang sung as she skipped along the path, beginning to call out for Blake again, this time in a more sing-song voice.

Winter hadn't really had much interaction with Ruby's half-sister since her arrival at Beacon, but if she had been taught anything by the girl, it was that appearances were deceiving. Sure, you can always say 'never judge a book by its cover', but there was always the one subconscious part of your brain, making the decision that the person would act a certain way based entirely upon their looks.

This was only partially true for Yang. While she was carefree, much like Winter had figured from their brief interactions, she was also very caring. A motherly figure, if you would. It probably came from the inborn instinct to protect her little sister from whomever would try to drag her down, which Weiss never really seemed to possess. Yang was a sweet person, Winter could at least be sure of that.

"Wait up, you mess of hair!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Blake was minding her own business, "reading" away in her favourite corner of the Beacon Academy library. She was thinking about how to behave on her date with Yang. After their first time, when they went for an ice cream, Blake has found herself thinking about the blonde more and more, when she was close to her, her hidden cat ears started twitching and she felt a certain feeling in her stomach that was neither full nor empty. She kept thinking about her wonderful, wavy, if impossible to tame, blonde locks, her mesmerizing purple eyes, her hypnotising and seemingly eternal smile, her  _amazing_ bo- let's just stop there. The point is, she was in love.

Which, considering that her semifinal fight was just around the corner, was probably not a good thing. Blake didn't want to lose when she was so close to the big final. She wanted to prove to herself that she was able of going all the way.

That was partly the reason behind her being in the library. She wanted to think of a tactic for her upcoming match. But her thoughts kept wandering back to the sexy blonde she called her partner, making her unable to focus and thus, her book in front of her face was more for show than for actual work, much as she hated to admit.

Her cat ears perked up at the sound of a familiar voice calling for her in the distance. Two voices, actually. After pinpointing the sources of the two voices, she was more than just mildly intrigued.

* * *

"Blaaaaaaaake!"

"Blake, where are you? Blaaaaake!"

If one were to see the two girls calling for the third one as if it was some kind of a lost child, they'd probably do a double take.  _Especially_  since it looked as if one of the two girls calling was the daughter of none other than Bianca Schnee,  _the_  Bianca Schnee and not just some happy-go-lucky girl whose parents had the audacity of naming their kids after some of the most influential people on Remnant.

After the two girls noticed that their calling didn't have any proper effect, they stopped yelling and instead started walking, their heads turning around to pick up any kind of imperfections a cat faunus could have left behind, any clue that would bring them closer to solving the puzzle.

"So," Yang wanted to ease the uncomfortable silence by making small talk, "how do you find Beacon for now?"

Winter sized Yang from top to bottom, making sure she seemed harmless enough in her intention. "It's okay. It was a bit harsh until I got used to it, but right now it's perfectly fine."

"My sister helped you settle in a lot, didn't she?"

Winter blushed. "I… Guess she did."  _Damn it, Winter, focus! She is not her parent, don't feel scared and confused. She's just trying to be a friend!_

After she noticed Yang giving her a smile wider than the road they were walking on, she blushed a deeper shade of crimson. "We didn't do anything… Crass!"

"Well, I wasn't planning on asking, but thanks for letting me know you've been busy with her," Yang winked.

"You… Brute! We didn't do anything except kiss! And… Maybe got a little handsy. But no clothes were taken off!"

"Sure thing, I believe you."

"What about you, darling? You and Blake gotten to second base yet?"

Yang was taken aback. "I… We…"

"What's that? Kitten got your tongue?"

 _Not yet, but soon, you little twintailed devil._  "No. I just… How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Oh,  _please._  It's obvious to the whole world that you two are into each other more than… Well… What I'm trying to say is that from what I've seen, most of Beacon is betting on when you come out as an official couple."

Now it was Yang's turn to blush.  _I mean, Blake_ is _hot, and she does seem to like me… Screw it, I'm asking her when we find her. Hah. "Screw."_

"I guess I do like her a lot…" Yang lost herself for a moment, straying from the path enough to nearly bang her head on a tree that was growing next to the path. 'Nearly' in this case meant surely, if not for a certain white-haired, twin-ponytailed girlfriend of her sister, who noticed where Yang was going at the last possible moment and decided to interfere.

"Thanks, Winter."

"Don't mention it. Anyway, I can give you an advice if you and Blake start dating for real."

Yang waited for a moment, as did Winter. When Yang noticed that the Schnee will not spit it out, she looked her in the eyes. "Well? Don't leave me hanging!"

"You love her that much, do you?", Winter mused. "Well, I happen to know what her favourite… Book series is. If you learn some stuff in there, she'll definitely want to keep you."

"What series? And how do you know that?"

"Let's just say that I got a bit… Carried away and read one of them. It's called Ninjas of Love."

"That's a smut novel, isn't it?"

"Pretty much."

"Makes sense that I could learn some tricks from there then."

They kept walking around campus, occasionally calling Blake once again just in case she was around.

"Winter. Thanks for the tip. Now let me give you one of my own. Weiss most likely already knows this, so I guess it's only fair if you know this as well. Ruby will  _devour_  any single little thing with strawberries in it." When she was done, she winked and gave her a playful look, and Winter once again blushed as red as her girlfriend's name.

"You're incredible. I wasn't even thinking of going all the way yet and you give me a tip like that."

"Sooner or later you're bound to do it, might as well know what you're putting yourself into."

"So, just like that, you're fine with it? No threats or anything?"

"Listen, Winter. When Ruby came to me, all scared and jumpy and whatnot and told me she's dating both of you, I could see something in her eyes I haven't seen before. Or at least, not too often. As scared as she was, she was happier than ever. As wrong as it felt to her, it made her happy. Why would I deny happiness to my favourite sister?"

"You only have the one sister."

"Beside the point. You can't  _not_  love the little scamp. Know this, though." With that, Yang got close. Very close. "I might be fine with you both dating her. And I know this will sound like a cliché, but if either of you two makes her cry, I won't give two shits about your last names. There will be payback if she gets hurt. She may be my leader and Weiss my teammate and you both her girlfriends, but my first and foremost duty is being a big sister. If you're playing her, you'd better stop now or you will regret it."

Yang was speaking from the heart, Winter could see it. As nonchalant as she tried to appear, she was trembling, dead scared. The words weren't spoken with hatred, but they sounded intimidating. And, with Winter knowing what an angry Yang is capable of doing, she knew that making Ruby miserable would be a huge mistake.

She swallowed hard. "U-Understood. Clear as the sky. Now, please, my personal space?"

Yang moved back, her mouth widened in a huge smile again. "Hah. Sorry if I frightened you. I meant what I said, though. You know what? Let's check the library again. She may have gotten there by now."

* * *

Blake kept the façade of being totally engrossed in her book, even as she saw Yang and Winter approach with the corner of her eyes. She couldn't keep on ignoring them when Yang decided to call her name, despite it being a library, which the librarian was sure to reprimand her for immediately, causing Yang to start acting as if her basic freedoms were being taken away, Winter to start rolling her eyes in disbelief and Blake giggling like a schoolgirl behind her book.

Yang that ated as if she didn't just break 20 or so rules was the best, as far as Blake was concerned. She couldn't help but blush at the playful expression as she was trolling the librarian. Winter looked less than amused, though.

"Yes, miss, sorry for disturbing the readers here, now, Yang, let's go and see Blake and will you please shut up already?"

She nearly dragged Yang away. When they sat down across the table from Blake, she slumped and let out a sigh. "You're the worst."

"Aww, you love me," Yang answered, unabashed, for which she received a freezing glare from the younger Schnee. Yang shrugged and turned her attention to Blake.

"Hey, Blake, where have you been? I've been looking for you for a long time."

"I was here all the time. I've been here since the lunch."

"But… But… I started searching right here. How?"

Winter snapped into a laugh.

"And just what is so funny, Ice… You can't be 'Ice Queen' since that is Weiss… Ice… Ice…"

"Snow White?"

Winter and Yang both looked at Blake, one with a grin as big as her face and the other with a look of disbelief at what she just heard.

"You did not just call me that…"

"Blakey, I'm so proud of you! I knew I was rubbing off on you!" Immediately upon saying that, Yang threw a hand over her mouth. "I did not just say that."

Now it was Blake's turn to be surprised. "Since when do you, Yang Xiao Long, of all people, feel embarrassed about a joke that could be understood sexually?"

"I… Am not embarrassed. Anyway, more pressing matters. Snow White! What was so funny?"

"First of all, don't call me Snow White. Second, I found it funny that you, the great huntress-in-training, possessing a "telepathic connection" with Blake, were in the same room as her and still could not find her. And third, you so  _are_  embarrassed by that joke."

"Am not! Anyway, thanks for help, Winter, but can you leave us alone? We have to discuss partner things."

"Suuuuuure, 'partner things'. Whatever. You're welcome. It's been nice getting to know you a bit better."

"Same. Now go, I'm sure Weiss and Ruby are missing you together somewhere," Yang winked. Winter blushed, pouted and then huffed before clicking her heels into the ground and leaving.

"She's cute. I see why Ruby fell for her."

Yang shot an incredulous look at Blake. She was not usually one to say those things out loud. "Wh… I mean, yeah, she kinda is cute. In a very Weiss-y way. Huh?" She made finger guns and pointed them at Blake, who shook her head.

"Dust, Yang. That was horrible."

Yang lay down on the desk in resignation. "This is pretty hard."

"What are the 'partner things' you were talking about earlier?"

Yang shot up immediately. "Well, kitten, I wanted to spend time with my partner, maybe develop some kind of new technique only the two of us would know and could use in battle, you know, stuff like that."

Blake lifted one eyebrow. "I'm not buying it."

"Why?"

"Yang Xiao Long, the one who always runs headfirst into battle, wanting to study techniques? While it's a nice idea and I wouldn't have anything against it, it just sounds too unbelievable."

Yang got a smile pasted across her face.  _Time to be bold._  "Well, I was actually thinking about developing a technique with you, for just the two of us."

"Yes? And that would be?"

Yang rose from her chair, making sure to stretch like a cat that just woke up to give Blake a good look at her assets. Then she gave her a seductive look.

"Yang?"

As if she didn't hear her, she started walking towards Blake. After she finally reached the other side of the desk, she made her put the book that was still held up as if anyone still believed her that she was reading. After that, Yang pushed the desk away a bit, enough so that she could sit on the desk and put her legs on Blake's armrests, effectively trapping her in her chair.

"You know, Blake," she started. "When we were on that ice cream date, there was really only one thought that went through my mind. I tried to not think about it, but it was impossible. And when we were walking towards Beacon, the thought still didn't go away. I guess I was afraid to think on it. But now I think I'm ready to act on that thought. You know, it hasn't left me since then. But now I'm not afraid anymore. I am, however nervous."

Blake was watching her, blushing profusely.  _She is so seductive like this._  "N-Nervous?"

Yang's purple eyes lighted up a bit. "Yes. Nervous. Because I'm not sure if you'll be mad about it or not."

"Yang, we have differing opinions on some things. I'm not sure what you're talking about right now, though, so I can't say if I would be mad."  _I know exactly what you're talking about. I want it too, can't you see? Just do it already!_

Yang was contemplating her next move.  _Should I just go for it? Should I make her do it herself? Is it right to play her like that? Am I even ready for it?_  For all her flamboyance and boasting, Yang Xiao Long was pretty inexperienced when it came to romance.

"What if you're just saying that to make me do something I'll regret, though? I'm pretty sure it's what I want to do, but…"

_For Dust's sake, Yang, just kiss me already!_

Yang kept on rambling. "And then you'll be angry with me and our partnership will deteriorate and that will upset Ruby and- hmmmm."

Whatever it was she was trying to say was unable to leave her mouth as she found the mouth occupied by Blake's. The cat faunus grew tired of her incessant babbling that was completely unlike her and rose from her seat to capture Yang's lips with her own.  _Blake is kissing me! Quick, Yang, ease into it._

The blonde wrapped her hands around Blake's neck while the black-haired girl returned the embrace by putting her hands on Yang's sides. Neither of them wanted to break the embrace or the kiss and eventually, their mouths opened so that the tongues could get into play.

A battle for domination ensued. While it may have been Blake who initiated the kiss, that never meant she would be in charge of it. Not when Yang was full of newfound energy the kiss gave her.

In the end they had to part for the simple fact that they lacked air to properly breathe. When they caught their breaths they looked each other in the eyes, just gazing.

"So… We're official now?", Yang asked. Blake just nodded. Then they heard a voice from behind Yang.

"Finally! Took you long enough!"

Startled, they looked in the direction the voice came from. They found that it was a student explaining some Grimm Studies stuff to his two friends at a table. Or at least, that was what the girls saw and decided to believe before they started almost uncontrollably giggling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, Bumblebee is official! Shippers rejoice! *cheers of BB shippers in the distance* That was the twentieth chapter! Hope you enjoyed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Decided to post this story here too. I will post every day until we're caught up with the story as seen on fanfiction.net. Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you want (it is appreciated). I should probably mention that Winter's design in this story won't follow canon (it was, after all, written way before the reveal), so there is no need to comment on that. Me and Jack are aware of it.


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